GROUPTHINK

1. GROUPTHINK Archived Chapter, 3rd ed. OF Irving Janis in Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory (1st ed.)

2. CLICKER Groupthink occurs when there is: High cohesiveness ; A shared “we feeling” of solidarity; Desire to maintain relationships within the group at all costs; All of the above

3. WHAT THE THEORY IS ABOUT Janis wanted to understand how a blue-ribbon group (or any group) could make a terrible decision, such as happened in the Bay of Pigs decision during JF Kennedy’s presidency;

4. Bay of Pigs Invasion • During President Kennedy’s presidency, a group of respected minds deliberated and decided to support a military invasion of Cuba; • The invasion was a massive disaster, with all the soldiers either dead or captured;

5. The Decision • Everything went wrong: • the secret nature of the plan was revealed quickly; • The air attack failed; • U.S. supply ships were sunk or driven off; • Our troops were bombed as soon as they hit the beach;

6. Errors in the Decision • Kennedy’s group of advisors miscalculated the effect of the invasion on the population of Cuba, expecting uprisings; • Later, the U.S. had to pay Cuba $53,000,000 to get the captured soldiers released from prison; • The whole effort was a grand fiasco;

7. Irving Janis • Janis wanted to understand how a blue-ribbon group could make such a terrible decision; • Janis believed that group dynamics were responsible for the poor decision making: he called it groupthink; • He suspected that other bad decisions made in the government were due to the same forces: The Challenger Launch;Pearl Harbor; invasion of North Korea;Vietnam war; Watergate coverup;

8. Groupthink: A Concurrence-Seeking Tendency Janis defines groupthink as: “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.” (p. 220, Griffin, 1991)

9. Groupthink Occurs • When cohesiveness is high; • A shared “we feeling” of solidarity and desire to maintain relationships within the group at all costs; • Yet, typically it has been thought that high-cohesive groups are more effective than low-cohesive groups in achieving their goals;

10. Cohesive Issue • Janis thinks that the high-cohesiveness of a policy making group endangers independent and critical thinking; • Janis’ position is that the consensus-seeking tendency of close-knit groups can cause them to make inferior decisions;

11. SYMPTOMS OF GROUPTHINK 1. Illusion of invulnerability: members feel that they cannot be wrong; 2. Belief in inherent moralityof the group: the group never questions that it is on the side of truth, justice, and goodness; 3. Collective rationalization: Members reassure one another of certain beliefs [that are incorrect] ; 4. Out-group stereotypes: Cuban air force was seen as obsolete, the army as weak, & Castro as stupid--all wrong;

12. Symptoms of Groupthink 5. Self-Censorship: An individual may not want to be an isolated, dissenting voice--there is a pressure toward uniformity; 6. Illusion of Unanimity: An atmosphere of assumed consensus--silence is taken for consent;

13. Groupthink Symptoms 7. Direct Pressure on Dissenters: the discussion is structures so as to suppress negative reactions; the agreement to do X becomes associated with some value--e.g., manhood; 8. Self-Appointed Mindguards: “Mindguards” protect a leader from assault by troublesome ideas (e.g., “now is the time to just stand by the leader”); 1

14. GROUPTHINK IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Groupthink theory maintains that groupthink can occur in any group where members consider loyalty to the group more important than the action it decides to take; • Not all cohesive groups end up succumbing to groupthink; • Cohesiveness is a necessarybut not sufficient condition for excessive concurrence seeking;

15. Antecedent Conditions of Groupthink • A Cohesive Group of Decision-Makers [just discussed]; • Structural Faults of the Organization; • Situational Context;

16. Cohesive Group + Structural Faults + Situational Context = • A tendency for groupthink concurrence-seeking: • Overestimation of the Group: symptoms 1 & 2; • Closed-mindedness: symptoms 3 & 4; • Pressure toward uniformity: symptoms 5, 6, 7, & 8; (p. 224)

17. The 8 Symptoms of Groupthink Lead to • Defective Decision-Making 1. Incomplete survey of alternatives; 2. Incomplete survey of objectives; 3. Failure to examine risks of preferred choice; 4. Failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives; 5. Poor information search; 6. Selective bias in processing information at hand; 7. Failure to work out contingency plans; Low probability of successful Outcome

18. Situational Context 1. High stress from external threats with low hope of a better solution than the leader’s ; 2. Low self-esteem temporarily induced by: a. Recent failures; b. Excessive difficulties on current decision making task that lowers members’ self efficacy; c. Moral dilemmas: Apparent loss of feasible alternatives except ones that violate ethical standards;

19. Structural Faults of the Organization 1. Insulation of the group; 2. Lack of tradition of impartial leadership; 3. Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures; 4. Homogeneity of members’ social background and ideology; 5. Etc.

20. IT DOESN’T ALWAYS HAPPEN • Cohesiveness is one element; • When the structural faults are present, and the context facilitates not trusting in your own ability to choose, the probability of groupthink increases; 2

21. To Reduce the Groupthink Taking Over • Changes can be made in: • Insulation of the group; • Impartial leadership; • Procedural methods (e.g., encourage dissent);