Group+Think

you can benefit from this link: [|group think]​ Groupthink

Groupthink is a concept that was identified by Irving Janis[|9] that refers to faulty decision-making in a group. Groups experiencing groupthink do not consider all alternatives and they desire unanimity at the expense of quality decisions. Learn more about groupthink and then complete the interactive exercise at the end of the discussion.
 * **Conditions** || Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision. ||
 * **Negative outcomes** || Some negative outcomes of groupthink include: * Examining few alternatives
 * Not being critical of each other's ideas
 * Not examining early alternatives
 * Not seeking expert opinion
 * Being highly selective in gathering information
 * Not having contingency plans ||
 * **Symptoms** || Some symptoms of groupthink are: * Having an illusion of invulnerability
 * Rationalizing poor decisions
 * Believing in the group's morality
 * Sharing stereotypes which guide the decision
 * Exercising direct pressure on others
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Not expressing your true feelings
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Maintaining an illusion of unanimity
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Using mindguards to protect the group from negative information ||
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Solutions** || <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Some solutions include: * Using a policy-forming group which reports to the larger group
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Having leaders remain impartial
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Using different policy groups for different tasks
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Dividing into groups and then discuss differences
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Discussing within sub-groups and then report back
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Using outside experts
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Using a Devil's advocate to question all the group's ideas
 * <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Holding a "second-chance meeting" to offer one last opportunity to choose another course of action ||

<span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without [|critically testing,]<span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|analyzing, and evaluating] ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by making decisions as a group.[|[1]] During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of [|consensus] thinking. A variety of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish, or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group. Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group’s balance. The term is frequently used pejoratively, with hindsight.

<span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Symptoms of groupthink <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">To make groupthink testable, Irving Janis devised eight symptoms indicative of groupthink (1977).
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Illusions of invulnerability// creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Rationalizing warnings// that might challenge the group's assumptions.
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Unquestioned belief// in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
 * 4) //<span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Stereotyping]  //<span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.
 * 5) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Direct pressure// to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty".
 * 6) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Self censorship// of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
 * 7) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Illusions of unanimity// among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
 * 8) <span style="background-color: #9cd378; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//Mind guards// — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.