Precept Week 12

Groupthink & Culture of Honor

Janis (1971)• What is groupthink?

• Examples? (Personal, historical?)

Janis (1971)

Groupthink: Causes

• Group cohesiveness/closeness

• Stress

• Group norms/priorities– Morale

– Unity

– Loyalty

• Suppression of “deviant thoughts”

• Is this an automatic process?

Janis (1971)

Groupthink: Symptoms

1. Invulnerability beliefs

2. Rationalizing behaviors

3. Beliefs in inherent morality

4. Stereotyping outgroups

5. Pressuring dissenters

6. Self-censorship

7. Illusion of unnanimity

8. Mindguards

Janis (1971)

Groupthink: Consequences

• What are some consequences of “groupthink”?

– Types of decisions reached

– Outcomes of decisions

– Response from other group(s)

Janis (1971)

Groupthink: Remedies

• Open discussion of criticisms

• Input from outsiders

• Leader sets (impartial) tone

Janis (1971)

Groupthink: Remedies1. Prioritize open objecting/doubting

2. Leaders adopt impartial stance (no stated preferences)

3. Set up outside groups (not insulated)

4. Leaders discuss with (outside) others & report reactions

5. Invite outside experts

6. Play devil’s advocate

7. Analyze rivals’ intentions/warning signs

8. Meet separately in subgroups

9. Final “second chance” meeting to re-visit doubts & criticisms

Janis (1971)

Groupthink

• Value of this article/framework?

• Empirics vs. other methodologies

• Potential future directions

Nisbett & Cohen (1996)

Culture of Honor

Nisbett & Cohen (1996)

Culture of Honor

• What is the “culture of honor”?

– When is violence okay?

– Boundary conditions?

– Politeness?

• Who is from N vs. S?

– Reactions?

• Is the “culture of honor” unique to the South?

• Other examples of cultural differences that could impact interpersonal perception?

• Types of cultures?

Nisbett & Cohen (1996)

Culture of Honor

Nisbett & Cohen (1996)

Culture of Honor

• Is culture an example of a “situation”?

• Is culture an example of a “disposition”?

• What is culture, & how does it affect behavior?

• How did “culture” affect you during the in-class exercise?

Style Notes

• Affect (v) – to influence (ah-FECT)– The manipulation affects the outcome.

• Affect (n) – emotional reaction (AH-fect)– The sad movie induced negative affect.

• Effect (n) – a result– The study detected no effect – the control and experimental

conditions were identical.

Citation examples (year always goes right after authors):Sim, Correll, & Sadler (2013) found that automatic biases can sometimes be

controlled.As shown by Platt (1973), social traps can be tricky.Groupthink can be detrimental to decision making (Janis, 1971).