Cause And Effect Essay On Groupthink

Groupthink is a term made popular by a social psychologist, named Irving Janis, in 1972. Groupthink occurs when a group of people decides based on what the other group members decide instead of each member deciding true to their own opinions or beliefs. The reason that groupthink occurs is that the members of the group feel pressure to agree or to avoid conflict within the group. Groups affected by groupthink often make poor decisions and do not explore the many other alternatives that may be available. They may also act irrational and harsh to other groups in their surroundings. Groups with little diversity and no rules for decision making are especially susceptible to groupthink. A clear example of groupthink can be taken from most of the popular teen movies of the 2000’s. In these movies, there is almost always a group of teens who are in the popular …show more content…
From my experience, the bricks that lay the perfect foundation for groupthink are usually low levels of motivation to complete the tasks, a lack of individualism within the group, no guidelines for decision making, and the fact that the group has not had the time to form into a team. The low levels of motivation can be caused by many things when it comes to college students and it can be different for each person in the group. With this being said, there is no one guaranteed way to raise motivation, as one person could be motivated by the grade and another could be motivated by their need to improve their skills. The next component that I mentioned was a lack of individualism or personalization within the group. What I ultimately mean is that there is no sense of self when you are in a group with people that you most likely don’t know. In most cases, the strongest leader will speak up and everyone else will follow and they will not contest because they don’t know how the others will react to a differing