10 Facts About Groupthink

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.

Groupthink is a construct of social psychology, but has an extensive reach and influences literature in the fields of communication studies, political science, management, and organizational theory, as well as important aspects of deviant religious cult behaviour.

Groupthink is sometimes stated to occur within natural groups within the community, for example to explain the lifelong different mindsets of those with differing political views.

Groupthink requires individuals to avoid raising controversial issues or alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking.

Groupthink can be considered by many to be a detriment to companies, organizations and in any work situations.

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Groupthink being a coinage – and, admittedly, a loaded one – a working definition is in order.

Groupthink is a term of the same order as the words in the newspeak vocabulary George Orwell used in his dismaying world of 1984.

Groupthink concluded that in each of these cases, the decisions occurred largely because of groupthink, which prevented contradictory views from being expressed and subsequently evaluated.

Groupthink encouraged group members to discuss possible solutions with trusted members within their separate departments, and he even divided the group up into various sub-groups, to partially break the group cohesion.

Groupthink argues that new evidence does not support Janis' view that groupthink was largely responsible for President Kennedy's and President Johnson's decisions in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and US escalated military involvement in the Vietnam War, respectively.