Communications Theory: Group Thinking

1536 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Characteristics of group decision making

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. According to Irving Janis, “Groupthink refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures”(Mathern, 2013). Groupthink and the affect it has on groups have been studied for many decades. Research has been conducted to find out exactly how prevalent groupthink is in today’s society. Group dynamics have especially been studied in relation to groupthink. It has been hypothesized that, “all members should have an equal influential role within the group” (Mathern, 2013). Mathern (2103) also states that this theory is not always true because people with stronger social skills will feel like they have more of the authority to speak up. Mathern (2013) then goes on to discuss how this then leads to the symptoms of groupthink since the people with weaker social skills do not always want to disrupt the harmony of the group. The symptoms of groupthink have been studied extensively. As mentioned earlier there are six main symptoms... ... middle of paper ... ... susceptibility to groupthink. This can be measured by taking a group of people and testing them in different environments to see if their susceptibility to groupthink changes. Since you will be using the same group and just placing them in different environments to solve a problem, their personalities are the same and we can measure if they change from environment to environment. Different examples of environment would be an office setting, a classroom setting, a restaurant setting, etc. This will allow me to see if the third variable does actually affect personality and one’s susceptibility to groupthink. By running experiments and measuring my three variables and the effects they have on one another I will be able to see if one’s personality and the environment they are placed in has an affect on one’s susceptibility to the communication theory groupthink.

Show More
Related

  • Why Do Police Officer Perceive Themselves As True Outsiders Case Study

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    In several cases, folks will set aside their personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. Group-think influences police officer’s rationalizations for some behaviors by preventing members of the group from reconsidering their beliefs while causing them to ignore warning signs. Group-think tends to occur more in situations where group members are very similar to one another and is more likely to take place when a powerful and charismatic leader commands the group. Situations in which the group is placed under extreme stress or where moral dilemmas exist also increase the occurrence of groupthink (Haberfeld et al.2014,

    Read More

  • Examples Of Groupthink In The Crucible

    227 Words  | 1 Pages

    Are you a self-reliant individual, or do you generate more ideas while working in a group? Groupthink has always been the dysfunctional idea that results from within a group that seeks harmony and conformity. Groupthink has been seen in Salem, MA, specifically in The Crucible, where townsfolk would go around accusing women, often innocent, of witchcraft. It has also been seen during the Red Scare, where Senator McCarthy would create a list of celebrities and other well-known people that he would accuse of being communists in the United States. At the time, Americans were against the idea of the communists and communism due to the fact that the Soviet Union, which had a communist government, was threatening to bomb the US. Thus, anyone who was

    Read More

  • Essay On Groupthink In Lord Of The Flies

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    As you can see Groupthink is a phenomenon that does exist in the Lord of Flies seen through when the kids all first get to the island and vote Ralph as chief, when nobody decides to join Jack at first when he leaves, and when Simon gets

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Man In The Well By Ira Sher

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ira Sher is able to capture the true philosophy and psychology of group thinking and conformism in the short story “The Man in the Well” by vividly reminiscing a specific encounter he had during his childhood. The short story depicts the savage and immoral actions of unsupervised children proving that as a collective unit individuals will tend to act in a wilder and uncivilized manner. The notion of group mentality as opposed to personal thought is saturated throughout the story and one of the main themes Sher is striving to express to the reader. Irvin Janis, the author of the book Victims of Groupthink, developed the word groupthink and defined it as a group making faulty decisions due to group pressures that lead to deterioration of their

    Read More

  • The Goonies

    4567 Words  | 10 Pages

    Turman, P. (October 13, 2000b). Group Decision Making & Problem Solving: Group Communication [Lecture] Cedar Falls, IA. University of Northern Iowa, Communication Studies Department.

    Read More

  • Interpersonal and Small Group Communication

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    As I planed to take this class, I thought this course would be like all other general education courses. I believed that it would be of little use to me. However, after attending the first class, my view has changed completely. I applied each and every theory to my life.

    Read More

  • The Groupthink Hypothesis

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • The Asch Conformity Experiment: How Social Pressure Influences a Person´s Life

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Due to the nature of our own biology we are social animals who continuously desire companionship, seek approval from others, and aspire to fit in. However this conformity prohibits individuals from expressing their true thoughts and instead actively engages them into peer pressured situations, subconsciously following social norms. Hence, the individual succumbs to groupthink. Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and are aware they must make a quality decision under considerable pressure. It is a process of rationalization that sets in when group members start thinking alike (Sims & Sauser, 2013). Eight symptoms of groupthink exist – illusion of invulnerability (group thinks they are invincible), collective rationalization (no reconsiderations to assumptions), belief in inherent morality (ignore ethical or consequences of their decisions), stereotyped views of out-groups (“enemy” is too evil, weak, or stupid to bother with), self-censorship (doubts from group consensus are not expressed), illusion of unanimity (everyone agrees with everyone else), and self-appointed mindguards (members protect group from information that is contradictory or problematic to group’s cohesiveness) (Janis, 1972). If a group of individuals came together they would engage in these symptoms of groupthink, resulting in a “bad” decision-making process producing less than optimal outcomes.

    Read More

  • Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Analysis

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    It does not allow individuality to express itself, and is often used to create a cult of personality around the leader(s). Not to mention that groupthink often creates an illusion of invincibility, which is usually disproven only after tragedy has occurred. Thus, while not as immoral as stereotyping, it may be more dangerous to those are taken in. Personally, when I was in Boy Scouts, groupthink was very common. Many of us were afraid to state the answers to questions that we knew, because we did not want to provoke those who did not know, and our counselor discouraged learning information that did not come from our handbooks. Thankfully, our troop had no major issues occur, but we should not have developed such a mentality at

    Read More

  • Groupthink

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are eight symptoms of groupthink. The first symptom is when all or most of the group view themselves as invincible which causes them to make decisions that may be risky. The group has an enormous amount of confidence and authority in their decisions as well as in themselves. They see themselves collectively better in all ways than any other group and they believe the event will go well not because of what it is, but because they are involved. The second symptom is the belief of the group that they are moral and upstanding, which leads the group to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of the decisions. The group engages in a total overestimation of its morality. There is never any question that the group is not doing the right thing, they just act. The disregarding of information or warnings that may lead to changes in past policy is the third symptom. Even if there is considerable evidence against their standpoint, they see no problems with their plan. Stereotyping of enemy leaders or others as weak or stupid is the fourth symptom. This symptom leads to close-mindedness to other individuals and their opinions. The fifth symptom is the self-censorship of an individual causing him to overlook his doubts. A group member basically keeps his mouth shut so the group can continue in harmony. Symptom number six refers to the illusion of unanimity; going along with the majority, and the assumption that silence signifies consent. Sometimes a group member who questions the rightness of the goals is pressured by others into concurring or agreeing, this is symptom number seven. The last symptom is the members that set themselves up as a buffer to protect the group from adverse information that may destroy their shared contentment regarding the group’s ...

    Read More

  • The Psychology of Deindividuation

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gilovich, T., & Gilovich, T. (2013). Chapter 12/ Groups. In Social psychology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Group Mentality

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    The group mentality was a trait acquired through years of evolution. It was originally developed through fear of rejection, and used to organize prodigious groups of people. The idea of grouping being the key to our civilization, explains why in our modern societies, individualized or not, we still tend to form groups.

    Read More

  • Communication Theories

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    In interpersonal communication there are many theories that are similar yet different in many ways. The theories can be combined to describe people and how those people interact and communicate with each other. Many of these theories help explain how people in society form impressions of others, how they maintain these impressions, why people interact with certain people in society, and how people will use these impressions that they have formed later on in life. These theories also help people to better understand themselves, to better understand interpersonal communication, and to better understand people in general. There are two theories in interpersonal communication that, despite their differences, can go hand in hand. The first is interaction adaptation theory and the second is emotional contagion theory. These two theories’ similarities and differences and their relevance to my everyday life will be discussed in this paper. These two theories are very important in understanding how people interact with others and why people do the things they do sometimes.

    Read More

  • Power Of Introvert Analysis

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    Groupthink is everywhere. It’s in school, companies, fashion and religions places. The benefit from groupthinks in these places to share ideas and to know what everyone thinks about. People who like to set in group for example in school or in meeting to solve a problem or to share ideas about some homework or brainstorming, Groupthink will be the best idea for that. Not only in school or company business, but also in fashion and artist,

    Read More

  • Importance Of Group Minds

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    As individuals, we always been considered living in groups. Knowing why having a group mind is important because it gives a better explanation of the definition of group minds. Lessing’s suggest that "We all live our lives in groups— the family, work groups, social, religious and political groups." (Behrens, Rosen 652). Wanting to belong in a group is precisely the reason why some individuals have group’s minds and the reason why groups are important. Having a group mind isn’t a bad thing since group minds consist of people who think the same and share similar ideas. Group minds can actually be a better skill than the group itself. This seems that the idea of being in a "group" contributes to the definition of group minds more than you think. What I mean is that the groups is the reason why an individual 's way of thinking may change. Various experiments have shown the effects of how groups can apply pressure to an individual way of thinking which exact description of what group minds are.

    Read More

More about Communications Theory: Group Thinking

Open Document