GROUPTHINK

Alex Doane

Groupthink is ….

A way of group deliberation that minimizes conflict and emphasizes unanimity

Types of Groups

Problem Solving Groups Task-Oriented Groups

Activities of small groups: Information Sharing Socializing Relate to others outside of the Group Educate New Members Tell Stories

Assumption 1

Conditions in groups promote high cohesiveness Cohesiveness

Group members willingness to work together Attraction to other group members values,

attitudes etc

Ernest Bormann Observation of groups show commonalities:

Common sentiment Emotional investment

Assumption 2

Group problem solving is primarily a unified process Affiliative constraints

Assumption 3

Groups and group decision making are frequently complex Group Influences Homogeneity

Antecedent conditions of Groupthink

Antecedent 1 Group cohesiveness

Causes conformity Antecedent 2

Structural Factors Antecedent 3

Group Stress Internal and External Stress

Personal Account

The theory of groupthink applies to any group project I have done from High School to now. In many groups one person gets stuck making all the decisions because other people in the group do not want to participate or they feel like what they have to say will make them feel stupid. Last semester in my Politics class I allowed for one person in the group make the decisions for what we would say as a group about a certain topic. I felt like the people in my group were more intelligent then I am, so I allowed them to take control without putting my input in. I also saw that people in my group would agree with each other on mostly everything rather then have to discuss the topic more in depth so we would finish our work quickly. Which we were all happy about the quicker the work was done the less time we had to spend on it even if we were all not fully involved in deciding what happened. I felt that my input my disrupt the group from finishing quickly because maybe they would have to explain to me what they meant because I did not understand. Also my input may have kept us at the project longer so if I kept to myself I could let them do the work and I would get done faster even if I disagreed with what they said. II conformed to the group so the work would get done, and so I would not have to stress about it anymore. Stress is large player in many peoples reasons to conform to the group.

There is a lot of group work or projects in some college classes. Do you think that groupthink evolves in many of these groups? If so Why?

Do you think a group of people with different backgrounds can still be part of a group that evolves into groupthink? Why

Discussion Question

Integration

Tradition Socio-

Psychological Socio-Cultural

Context Small Group Organizational

Approach to knowing Positivistic/

Empirical

Mid Ranged Theory

Systems Approach