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What is Groupthink? Name Institutional affiliation WHAT IS GROUPTHINK? According to Janis (1972), groupthink is a form of thinking or rather a psychological phenomenon which people engage in when “concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive group, and realistic appraisal of alternative actions are overlooked” (Janis 1972, p. 9). It is a decision taken by the group under pressure to arrive at a unanimous decision without opposition from any member of the group; these people often remain quiet, so they do not disturb the peace and uniformity of the group (Cherry 2017). Groupthink mainly occurs in tightly-knitted groups that need to make a collective decision about a particular situation; this could be overwhelming leading them to make a collective rash decision without considering any other alternatives. Janis (1972) identified eight symptoms of groupthink. Those include invulnerability, rationale, morality, stereotypes, pressure, self-censorship, unanimity, and self-appointed ‘mindguards.’ The illusion of invulnerability within a group creates a false sense of belief; they feel overconfident (Chesire 2017) making them take unnecessary risks. Collective rationalization is when a group fails to heed warnings as they collectively create rationales so as not to consider or revisit assumptions that could set them back. Belief in inherent morality, the group, believes that their cause is right which enables them to ignore ethical and moral consequences their decision could or may have caused ( Psysr.org, what is groupthink). Stereotyped views of out-groups, groups with this symptom tend to disregard
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