John Donne once said, “No man is an island” (Donne), which really just means that no human being can survive alone. Human beings are communal by nature and should one be isolated, that human would likely go insane with loneliness. So perhaps this explains why humans will conglomerate and follow a certain belief and often will not question dubious morals for fear of being ostracised. ‘Groupthink’ is a term that describes this behaviour. Groupthink is, according to Philosophy: A Text With Readings, “the tendency of cohesive groups to get increasingly out of touch with reality” (Velasquez). Plato’s Allegory of the Cave describes a group of men facing an illusionary world that they perceive as real and when one is removed, he fears being ridiculed …show more content…
Reality is that global warming is a serious problem mostly caused by humans, but some wish to turn away from reality and thus get out of touch with it. The group has a belief and if someone denies that belief, or simply questions it, the rest of the group turns on them. Groupthink causes an ‘us-versus-them’ standpoint and the group comes to believe that if one is not with them, they are against them. Though this is not necessarily true, they are clouded by strong opinions. So they continue going along with whatever belief the group has, even going so far as to convince themselves with false or arguable facts. Look at Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in comparison to global warming conspiracy and denial. The similarities are numerous. First, the cave parallels the world the deniers grow up in. Many global warming deniers are of older generations and so twenty or thirty years ago technology was not as advanced and global warming was not well-known. This blissful world of ignorance and a better environment is like the cave. They can not truly see what is making the shadows. Then, in the Allegory of the Cave, one man is removed from the group and shown the truth. In the global warming sense, these generations became aware as the world did and as technology advanced. They heard ‘something’ was happening to the earth. It was not gradual either, and in only a few years the world suddenly had knowledge as the newer generations were being taught about global warming. The rapid increase of global warming discussion caused a shock and fear. Now the one man who grew up in a world with little problems and almost no regard for the environment is shocked to see there is a problem, a problem that the most intelligent life on earth caused. Like the man from the cave, this modern man would think that what he had
A similar message that appears in his book that appeared in the aforementioned speech was the impact of the media speculation. The book addresses this in two examples. One was presented with the news of a lawsuit that an island called Vantu would file against the EPA; yet the lawsuit would never move forward due to it only serving a purpose to launder money and raise awareness to global warming that was never proven to affect the island. The other was shown to be environmental scientist who received their funding from environmental organizations, such as NERF in the book. These scientists would often have to go against their findings and report what the organizations wanted them to, or possibly lose their funding. Additionally, the book profoundly took opposition to the claim of global warming. This is presented in the form of the main character, Peter Evans, who has been manipulated into believing everything that the media has told him about global warming. It isn’t until John Kenner is introduced, that Peter begins got learn the truth about global warming. The author uses specific evidence to back his claims, specifically he uses a wide array of resources to verify his claim that Antarctica is not in fact melting, but getting colder and thickening. Furthermore, another essential concept that that book introduces is environmental extremists, or bioterrorism. These characters in the book would stop at nothing to make sure that everyone believed in global warming, and tried to destroy parts of the world to succeed in their mission. Bioterrorists are best represented as a warning of what could happen if people continue to buy into the media’s lies without having conclusive evidence to back up their
Everyday a war is being waged, not in foreign countries- but in small neighborhoods and capital cities all over the world. A timeless battle to retain individual thought and action in an increasingly conformist society. The concept of a unanimous group-thinking society can be witnessed throughout history in the form of political controversies to pop culture and trends, to subtle influences in everyday life. The short narrative “Shooting an Elephant” written by George Orwell is a perfect example of group-thinking that implicates that to be accepted into these societal groups, one must do what is right by them, and not by the individual. Throughout the narrative, the author is influenced by increasing pressures from the crowd to shoot the elephant although it goes against his own personal convictions. The author desires to be accepted into the native's lives; no longer a social outcast. However, with this desire comes the knowledge that the group may or may not be correct in their brutal quest for blood.
In today’s society individuals/groups tend to behave, respond, adapt or become ineffectual depending on their surrounding environment. Individuals find it less tedious to conform to the majority vote than to stand out and speak their truth. Conformance has become a norm amongst individuals; we are pressured to conform to the majority vote just to feel socially appropriate. How can individuals grow and develop their own personality without voicing their opinions? Larger organizations tend to construe people into thinking they’re correct and what they are preaching is appropriate. When a group becomes institutionalized as an organization, it evolves shared beliefs, values, and assumptions (page 226). Formed by spontaneously developed relationships, formal groups are created by larger organizations. It is very important for formal groups to focus their attention on a set of beliefs, values, and composition. Introduced by Irving Janis, the phenomenon of “groupthink” was introduced to correlate group conformance on a higher level. Obtaining group dominance is crucial to many high-level decision makers in the government. This phenomenon has led to incompetent and disastrous decisions.
She describes an ice age and how slowly over the course of 10,000 years the earth became to warm and the planet underwent a dramatic change. She then goes on to say that this series of events was taking place again, only now it was happening within the next hundred years. She also provided that according to the newly agreed community of scientists now agree that relatively 60% of Carbon emissions need to be reduced in order to avert global disaster. The enabling assumption is that polluting the earth is bad, also that the world climate changing drastically for the worse is a bad thing. It is hard to believe that many dispute these assumptions which make it hard to not accept this article and adopt it as one’s moral standard. The backing is simply demonstrated by the claims and evidence presented by scientists in the field of climate change. The article expresses that the differing views regarding the issue are not easy to come by and that those who do reject the claim are linked to some sort of petroleum company. The argument within this article is straightforward and does not allude to a larger picture. It is simple, the earth is facing cataclysmic climate change and that we must act quickly in order to remedy this
In our modern, technological world, the standard of living has far surpassed anything our world has experienced in the past, and while the increase in this characteristic has led many countries to thrive in the 21th century, it has also created dramatic consequences for the world that have not been brought to light. One of the most prominent consequences of the transformation into the Modern Age is the presence of global warming, the rise in average temperatures throughout the year for the entire globe. But, you may ask, isn’t global warming something that the world has known about for a long time? What do you mean when you say it hasn’t been brought to light? The overarching theme of global warming consists of many different factors that ultimately lead to the heating of the
In 1972, Irving Janis presented a set of hypothesis that he extracted from observing small groups performing problem solving tasks; he collectively referred to these hypotheses as groupthink¹. He defined groupthink as “a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action²” A successful group brings varied ideas, collective knowledge, and focus on the task at hand. The importance of groups is to accomplish tasks that individuals can not do on their own. The Bay of Pigs, Watergate, and the Challenger disaster are all forms of failure within a group. Specifically, you can see the effect of groupthink of Americans before September 11, 2001. The thought of harm to the United States was unfathomable, but only after the attacks did they realize they were not invincible. When a solid, highly cohesive group is only concerned with maintaining agreement, they fail to see their alternatives and any other available options. When a group experiences groupthink, they may feel uninterested about a task, don't feel like they will be successful, and the group members do not challenge ideas. Stress is also a factor in the failure of groupthink. An effective group needs to have clear goals, trust, accountability, support, and training. Some indicators that groupthink may be happening are; making unethical decisions, they think they are never wrong, close-minded about situations, and ignore important information. Many things can be done to prevent groupthink from happening. One way is to make each person in the group a “critical evaluator”. The leader must ...
Is working together really better? The New Groupthink causes classrooms around the nation to be arranged in such a way to encourage teamwork. This will help prepare students for the workforce, where they will be required to collaborate with others.Some suggest that this style of learning may not be as effective for other students, more specifically; introverts. Susan Cain is one of those people. Susan Cain is an American author and lecturer, as well as the co-founder of the Quiet Revolution, a movement dedicated to motivate introverts to create a change, no matter how quiet they are. Cain suggests that there should be a balance between collaboration and solitude in both academic and work settings.
When the prisoners were oppressed, the guards expected them to revolt and fight for their last bit of freedom. As a result, the guards became more aggressive in response and ultimately caused the prisoners to become passive and obedient (Zimbardo 736). People will surrender their individuality to fit in, whether it be from a group or an individual. Similarly as it is examined in Asch, the strong inclination people have to conform will cause some to say white is black (730). Perhaps it is wired in the human species to group together no matter the cost to help them survive. However, there must be another component to help keep people under obedience because otherwise, people could simply break away from the group
For a majority of people, it isn’t new news that the Earth’s climate is changing and increasingly getting warmer. For quite some time now, people have been arguing about what the actual causes are and what role humans have played in the current condition of the earth. A good bit of people seem to be in agreement that due to the actions of humans, the earth’s climate is increasingly getting worse and that if things don’t change, than everyone living on earth will be facing the consequences. However, this is not entirely true. The fault of climate change does not fall solely on the shoulders of mankind, but on the earth as well.
After completing the group task of preparing a presentation on, transferring individual facilitation skills into a group work setting I will critically reflect upon my own participation. I will evaluate my self-awareness while working in the group, as well as those around me. The way that I personally dealt with any issues that arose within the group and how that affected the group dynamics. I will also briefly discuss the roles in which each member of the group took and how role allocation affected, the group dynamics and the working relationships. Finally I will evaluate my work having discussed it with my fellow group members.
What is groupthink? There is a simple definition for it, but is it truly that simple? The term groupthink refers to the inclination of group members to have the same opinions and beliefs; it frequently leads to mistakes. It often occurs without an individual being aware of it. Conflict is considered to be a harmful element when related to groups, but conflict is good when considering groupthink because it helps to eliminate the existence of a groupthink. The explanation sounds simple enough, but it is more complex than the description given.
The subject of global warming is as popular as the president. These both topics have always been hot subjects in everyday life. Global warming is the biggest storm headed in our way. It is also the most important issue of our times. Those ads or public service announcement on TV about global warming might not be the most attractive but the cause behind it is very important. Global warming is one of the major threats our planet is facing. Most scientists prove the fact that global warming is mainly caused by human activities rather than natural cycles. To simplify it, most mechanisms that we use are affecting earth. These mechanisms are created by humans. Therefore, humans are affecting earth.
Groupthink is the communications theory that addresses, “ defective decision making on the part of a cohesive decision-making group in which loyalty to real or perceived group norms take precedence over independent, critical judgment” (Redd & Mintz, 2013). The main idea behind the theory of groupthink is that when participants in a group discussion do not want to disrupt the group, they will in turn reframe from suggesting other solutions to a problem. By not contributing other suggestions, better solutions may be overlooked and this leads to poor decision making in general. In order for the best possible solution to be found, participants in the group need to feel like they can ask questions and discuss their own personal opinions and beliefs.
Al Gore mentions Mark Twain’s quote, “what gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know, it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so”; we sometimes think we know what something is but we have no clue about what’s true and what’s not. Many people know what global warming is but when asked to go in depth they just say “oh it has to do with heat and it affecting our environment”. “Even if humans were causing global warming, and we are not, this could be maybe the greatest hoax ever perpetrated.”- Senator James Inhofe. How ignorant must this senator be? There is evidence supporting the fact that global warming is occurring. It’s not until the world is ending that people that have the same mind set as this man will finally understand that global warming is happening. Yet, they will still have the audacity to say “I didn’t think global warming was THAT important.” “If a frog jumps into a pot of boiling water, it jumps right out again because it senses the danger. But the very same frog if it jumps into a pot of lukewarm water that is slowly brought to a boil, will just sit there and it won’t move. It’ll just sit there even as the temperature continues to go up and up. It’ll stay there, until it’s rescued. People are like the frog, we’ll jolt sometimes before we become aware of a danger; however, if it seems gradual even if it’s happening quickly, we’re capable of just sitting there and not
As Robert Frost once said, “ Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.” This excerpt can relate to the idea of global warming. Global warming can be defined as an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. During the past 10,000 years the earth has been in an ever-growing cycle that has significantly changed the climate. These changes are becoming more prevalent in our world today in the past 150 years. Scientists have been analyzing the causes and effects of the greenhouse effect and many other issues that global warming has presented. As John Houghton states in his book, Global Warming the Complete Briefing, on page 2 “ The 1980s and 1990s were unusually warm. Globally speaking, the decades have been the warmest since accurate records began somewhat over a hundred years ago and these unusually warm years are continuing into the twenty-first century.” There are countless records that show that our world as a whole is getting warmer, and the facts cannot be disputed. Everyone in the world today is experiencing the effects of global warming. These effects might be small now, but if we don’t protect our planet now then the consequences will greatly be increased.