Groupthink

Groupthink is the extreme concurrence-seeking displayed by decision-making groups that is predicted to result in highly defective decisions. The groupthink concept was first developed by Irving Janis in 1972 to explain such disastrous incidents as the United States's decision to invade the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, the failure of the United States military to foresee the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Great Britain's appeasement of Nazi Germany in World War II, and the decisions to escalate the Vietnam War and the Korean War. According to this perspective, groupthink is hypothesized to occur when particular antecedent conditions are present. These include high group cohesiveness, insulation from experts, limited search and appraisal of information, directive leadership, and high stress combined with low self-esteem and little hope ...