Groupthink

Groupthink is a term coined by Irving Janis in 1971 to describe a premature concurrence-seeking tendency that interferes with collective decision-making processes and leads to poor decisions. It is characterized by deterioration in group member mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgments that result from in-group pressures to seek consensus. It is what happens when the task demands on a decision-making group are overwhelmed by the social demands to reach consensus. When experiencing groupthink, members tend to make simplistic statements about the issues and more positive in-group references than those in nongroupthink cases.

Groupthink theory has become an influential framework for understanding the origins of group decision-making fiascos and has been widely cited in a variety of disciplines including psychology, business, political science, and communication. The appeal of the concept is evidenced by the ease with which it can be applied to numerous group decisions and the potential for groupthink to occur in various work situations.

Groupthink is likely when members

• are in a highly cohesive group;
• perceive a stressful situational context such as time pressure;
• perceive the task to be important, difficult, and involving; and
• are striving for unanimity rather than evaluating alternative courses of action (i.e., concurrence seeking tendency).

Group cohesion may be a function of mutual attraction, comradeship, enthusiasm, and devotion to a common course; desire to belong to the group; or loyalty to a leader. Other antecedents of groupthink may be structural and procedural faults of the group, including insulation, promotional (or directive) leadership, lack of norms requiring methodological procedures, and homogeneity of members' social backgrounds and ideology.

Groupthink theory identifies specific symptoms of defective decision making and prescribes a number of concrete and useful remedies for avoiding them. The original symptoms of groupthink identified by Janis (1972) are as follows:

• An illusion of invulnerability: Members ignore obvious danger, take extreme risk, and are overly optimistic.
• Collective rationalization: Members discredit and explain away warnings contrary to group thinking.
• An illusion of morality: Members believe their decisions are morally correct, ignoring the ethical consequences of their decisions.
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• Excessive stereotyping: The group constructs negative stereotypes of rivals outside the group.
• Direct pressure for conformity on dissidents: Peers pressure members of the group who express arguments against the prevailing group's stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, viewing such opposition as disloyalty.
• Self-censorship: Members withhold their dissenting views and counterarguments.
• Illusion of unanimity: Members perceive falsely that everyone agrees with the group's decision—silence is considered consent.
• Reliance on self-appointed mind guards: Some members appoint themselves to the role of protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency.

Research suggests that additional symptoms may include the following:

• Group insulation: Failure to initiate or maintain contact with an opposition group and lack of coordination with third-party mediators.
• Creation of time pressure: Failure to extend the time period for reaching a decision.
• Lack of impartial leadership: Less available information is used and few solutions are suggested when leaders are directive.
• Decision making: Lack of methodical decision-making procedures.

By facilitating the development of shared illusions and related norms, these symptoms are used by groups to maintain esprit de corps during difficult times. The major thrust of groupthink theory is that the presence of a number of the previous symptoms increases the probability that a group will elicit groupthink. That is, the more symptoms of groupthink, the more unfavorable the outcomes.

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