Groupthink

Groupthink is a psychological that occurs within a  in which the desire for harmony or  in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional  outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without of alternative viewpoints by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.

Groupthink requires individuals to avoid raising issues or alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. The dysfunctional of the "" produces an "illusion of invulnerability" (an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made). Thus the "ingroup" significantly overrates its own abilities in decision-making and significantly underrates the abilities of its opponents (the ""). Furthermore, groupthink can produce dehumanizing actions against the "outgroup".

Antecedent factors such as, faulty group structure, and situational context (e.g., community panic) play into the likelihood of whether or not groupthink will impact the decision-making process.

Groupthink is a construct of social psychology but has an extensive reach and influences literature in the fields of, , , and , as well as important aspects of deviant religious behaviour.

Groupthink is sometimes stated to occur (more broadly) within natural groups within the community, for example to explain the lifelong different mindsets of those with differing political views (such as "" and "" in the U.S. political context ) or the purported benefits of team work vs. work conducted in solitude. However, this conformity of viewpoints within a group does not mainly involve deliberate, and might be better explained by the collective of the individual members of the group.

Most of the initial research on groupthink was conducted by, a research psychologist from. Janis published an influential book in 1972, which was revised in 1982. Janis used the disaster (the failed invasion of Castro's Cuba in 1961) and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 as his two prime case studies. Later studies have evaluated and reformulated his groupthink model.

pioneered the initial research on the groupthink theory. He does not cite Whyte, but coined the term by analogy with "" and similar terms that were part of the newspeak vocabulary in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by. He initially defined groupthink as follows:

"I use the term groupthink as a quick and easy way to refer to the mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. Groupthink is a term of the same order as the words in the newspeak vocabulary George Orwell used in his dismaying world of 1984. In that context, groupthink takes on an invidious . Exactly such a connotation is intended, since the term refers to a deterioration in mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgments as a result of group pressures."

He went on to write:

"The main principle of groupthink, which I offer in the spirit of, is this: The more amiability and there is among the members of a policy-making, the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against ."

Janis set the foundation for the study of groupthink starting with his research in the where he studied the effect of extreme stress on group cohesiveness. After this study he remained interested in the ways in which people make decisions under external threats. This interest led Janis to study a number of "disasters" in, such as failure to anticipate the (1941); the  fiasco (1961); and the prosecution of the  (1964–67) by President. He concluded that in each of these cases, the decisions occurred largely because of groupthink, which prevented contradictory views from being expressed and subsequently evaluated.

Symptoms
To make groupthink testable, devised eight symptoms indicative of groupthink.

Type I: Overestimations of the group — its power and morality
 * Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
 * Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.

Type II: Closed-mindedness
 *  warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
 *  those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, impotent, or stupid.

Type III: Pressures toward uniformity
 *  of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
 * Illusions of unanimity among group members,.
 * Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty"
 * s— self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.

Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis
The United States of April 1961 was the primary case study that Janis used to formulate his theory of groupthink. The invasion plan was initiated by the administration, but when the  administration took over, it "uncritically accepted" the plan of the  (CIA). When some people, such as and Senator, attempted to present their objections to the plan, the Kennedy team as a whole ignored these objections and kept believing in the morality of their plan. Eventually Schlesinger minimized his own doubts, performing. The Kennedy team stereotyped and the Cubans by failing to question the CIA about its many false assumptions, including the ineffectiveness of, the weakness of , and the inability of Castro to quell internal uprisings.

Janis argued the fiasco that ensued could have been prevented if the Kennedy administration had followed the methods to preventing groupthink adopted during the, which took place just one year later in October 1962. In the latter crisis, essentially the same political leaders were involved in decision-making, but this time they learned from their previous mistake of seriously under-rating their opponents.