“Witchcraft!” is an accusation often heard during the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. is a dramatized story of the trials. The Crucible closely connects with Groupthink, written by Irving Janis. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that often occurs in a group of people that desire of conformity resulting in unreasonable decision-making outcome. Symptoms of groupthink manifested in The Crucible are rationale, pressure, and unanimity. Rationale is one of the most prominent symptoms of groupthink. The symptom is described by Irving Janis as when “Victims of groupthink… collectively construct rationalizations in order to discount warnings and other forms of negative
…show more content…
According to Janis, pressure is when “Victims of groupthink apply direct pressure to any individual who momentarily expresses doubt about any of the groups shared illusions” (Janis). Pressure is the use of persuasion, influence, or intimidation by the ingroup to make someone, who expresses doubt about the ingroup’s shared beliefs, do something. In the beginning of The Crucible, Abigail Williams is questioned for the shenanigans in the forest with her cousin, Betty, and Tituba that took place in the forest the previous night. Hale questions “Hale: You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?” (Miller 40). Betty is believed to be sleeping because she drank the brew and is under a witchcraft spell, but Abigail wants to believe otherwise. Hale is using verbal pressure against Abigail to try to get her to reveal her doubt against the unanimous thought that Betty is under the curse of witchcraft. While Abigail is a victim of pressure, she’s equally as guilty of pressuring others. Abigail threatens “Abigail: And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 19). Abigail uses intimidation and threats of violence to pressure the girls into keeping their mouths shut about what happened in the woods with them, Betty, and Tituba. …show more content…
Rationale is displayed when those of the court rationalized that if the Proctors’ had a poppet and couldn’t recite the commandments, that they were witches. Pressure is shown when Hale questioned Abigail about the night in the woods, and when Abigail threatens the girls to keep quiet about it. Last but not least, unanimity is exhibited when Mary Warren “saw” the spirit, and when the girls felt the freezing wind. Although these symptoms are shown by partially fictionalized characters in the play, The Crucible, actual people in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials suffered from the physiological phenomenon known as
According to Janis, pressure is when “Victims of groupthink apply direct pressure to any individual who momentarily expresses doubt about any of the groups shared illusions” (Janis). Pressure is the use of persuasion, influence, or intimidation by the ingroup to make someone, who expresses doubt about the ingroup’s shared beliefs, do something. In the beginning of The Crucible, Abigail Williams is questioned for the shenanigans in the forest with her cousin, Betty, and Tituba that took place in the forest the previous night. Hale questions “Hale: You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?” (Miller 40). Betty is believed to be sleeping because she drank the brew and is under a witchcraft spell, but Abigail wants to believe otherwise. Hale is using verbal pressure against Abigail to try to get her to reveal her doubt against the unanimous thought that Betty is under the curse of witchcraft. While Abigail is a victim of pressure, she’s equally as guilty of pressuring others. Abigail threatens “Abigail: And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 19). Abigail uses intimidation and threats of violence to pressure the girls into keeping their mouths shut about what happened in the woods with them, Betty, and Tituba. …show more content…
Rationale is displayed when those of the court rationalized that if the Proctors’ had a poppet and couldn’t recite the commandments, that they were witches. Pressure is shown when Hale questioned Abigail about the night in the woods, and when Abigail threatens the girls to keep quiet about it. Last but not least, unanimity is exhibited when Mary Warren “saw” the spirit, and when the girls felt the freezing wind. Although these symptoms are shown by partially fictionalized characters in the play, The Crucible, actual people in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials suffered from the physiological phenomenon known as