1. GROUPTHINK in Archived Chapter, 3rd ed.
OF Irving Janis in
Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory (1st ed.)
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2. CLICKER Groupthink occurs when there is: High cohesiveness ;
A shared “we feeling” of solidarity;
Desire to maintain relationships within the group at all costs;
D. All of the above
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3. WHAT THE THEORY IS ABOUT
Janis 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;

4. 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;

5. 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;

6. 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;

7. 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;

8. 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)

9. 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;

10. 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;

11. SYMPTOMS OF GROUPTHINK
1. 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;

12. Symptoms of Groupthink
5. 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;

13. Groupthink Symptoms
7. Direct Pressure on Dissenters: the discussion is structured 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
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14. 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;

15. Antecedent Conditions of Groupthink
A Cohesive Group of Decision-Makers [just discussed];
Structural Faults of the Organization;
Situational Context;

16. 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)

17. 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

18. Situational Context
1. 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;

19. Structural Faults of the Organization
1. 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.

20. 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

21. To Reduce the Groupthink Taking Over
Changes can be made in:
Insulation of the group;
Impartial leadership;
Procedural methods (e.g., encourage dissent);