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GROUPTHINKOF Irving Janis

in Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory (1st ed.)

Archived Chapter, 3rd ed.

04/18/23

CLICKERGroupthink occurs when there is:

A. High cohesiveness ;

B. A shared “we feeling” of solidarity;

A. Desire to maintain relationships within the group at all costs;

A. All of the above

WHAT THE THEORY IS ABOUTJanis 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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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)

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;

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;

SYMPTOMS OF GROUPTHINK1. Illusion of invulnerability:

members feel that they cannot be wrong;

2. Belief in inherent morality of 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;

Symptoms of Groupthink5. 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;

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Groupthink Symptoms7. 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

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 necessary but not sufficient condition for excessive concurrence seeking;

Antecedent Conditions of Groupthink A Cohesive Group of Decision-

Makers [just discussed]; Structural Faults of the

Organization; Situational Context;

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)

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

Situational Context1. 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;

Structural Faults of the Organization1. 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.

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

To Reduce the Groupthink Taking Over Changes can be made in:

Insulation of the group; Impartial leadership; Procedural methods (e.g.,

encourage dissent);