The Influence Of Group Polarization

Decent Essays
Groups, crowds, and teams can have an effect on ones behavior. Groupthink is defined as a kind of thinking in which maintaining group cohesive-ness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts in a realistic manner (Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. ,2013).Group polarization is defined as The tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of its members (Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2013).
For example lets there was a small isolated school and people want to believe that they had the best football team and they had the best players. Eventually everyone collectively starts to believe that they’re the best football team and they may make the mistake of challenging

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The main purpose of the reading by Matt Motyl titled, “Liberals and conservatives are (geographically) dividing” is that political parties’ affiliations are dividing the U.S. This can be seen through the locations many Americans live such as liberals going to more urban areas as opposed to the conservatives to go to less populated areas in rural states (Motyl, 2016). The author uses the Ideological Enclavement Theory to explain the division of people in the U.S through racial segregation and ideological-segregated enclaves (Motyl,2016). In this theory there are two components which he states, “People have gut-level intuitions about the ideology of different enclaves, and when the ideology if a community matches people’s personal ideology,…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In her article, What is Groupthink?, author Kendra Cherry discusses the concept of majority opinions in order to have multiple groups of people have agreements. People argue that groupthink occurs when a group of people work together and one opposes an idea and one person does not agree with the idea. This is helpful to the group because other ideas should be brought to the table. The concept of groupthink is related to the early settler’s experience because they had to work together in order to survive the obstacles they went through. Effects of groupthink on the settlers can be seen when they had to work with the natives to survive a harsh winter.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main challenge of this group situation is that there was a sudden rise of conflict among members at the beginning to mid phase of the project. This resulted the possible development of groupthink (Janis, 2008). As a leader in this situation, I would firstly feel lousy and disappointed in myself that I didn’t take note of group’s division and how the meeting could be more inclusive of everyone’s opinion (Chadha, 2016). However, at that point, I would also probably feel confused but yet curious as to why it was suddenly voiced out, hence thought that I should facilitate to explicit the thoughts and feelings of each member to better understand as well.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Party polarization has a massive effect on voters, congress, and policymaking. Party polarization is the obvious division that exists between parties, specifically Democrats and Republicans, because of the extreme differences of the ideological beliefs of the opposing parties. Increasing party polarization causes many problems for the government. With party members determined to stand behind their own beliefs, it becomes difficult for the two parties to find common ground. The evident discord between Congress members then leads to polarization amongst voters and vice versa.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Groupthink is led by the influence from authority and peers. Groups grow to think alike and become convinced there is only one “right” viewpoint. Groups think it is disloyal to take suggestions for alternatives. Groups have narrow perspective and most likely believe they are fully right.…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Social Psychology chapter has concepts that relate to flash mobs including conformity and deindividuation. Conformity deals with an indirect social pressure involving a change in behavior in order to fit in with a group. For example, bystanders to the flash mob may be questionable as to what is going on, but when more and more people join the flash mob, the bystanders are indirectly pressured into joining. In addition to conformity, people may experience the phenomenon deindividuation, during a flash mob. This phenomenon occurs when a person loses their individuality and hands themselves over to the mood and actions of the group.…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article “Good people do Bad Things” was written by Anne Trafton. This article explains that people don’t always act rationally when they’re in group settings rather than alone. Anne emphasizes that the brain acts differently because it is stuck in a “mob mentality”. She started studying this affect after she found herself on the other side of a hostile situation versus a large crowd. The author’s strategies are very effective as far as I can see; most all theories are backed by facts and statistics.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The seemingly uncontrolled riots across Ferguson, like many other historical riots such as in New York and L.A., can actually be evaluated and explained in terms of a few different group psychological concepts. Groups, forming into mobs, often operate within two sociological principles: group polarization and deindividualization. Group polarization describes the tendency for group decisions to be more irrational and extreme than individual decisions. Groups tend to cause individuals to become more convinced in whatever preexisting belief they had. Deindividualization (486) describes the lack of self identity combined with reduced rationality often common in mob situations.…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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. Jonestown is a great example of groupthink because everyone believed in Jim Jones. Hundreds of people thought it was a great idea to commit mass suicide in Jonestown, all under the command of their detrimental leader, Jim Jones even though some of them thought it was a preposterous…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Groupthink in Social Media Katrina Venta PSY 102 Professor Stommel April 21, 2016 Groupthink in Social Media Today in the United States — or anywhere in the world for that matter, there is great pressure on the need to be perceived a certain way by society. We live in a digital era and a generation of technological advancements — where our private lives aren’t so private anymore, and the need for approval is eating away our self-confidence and identity. We tweak things about ourselves to adjust to the ‘norm’, and end up compromising and conforming in certain situations. Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis, is the “conformity that frequently occurs in the decision-making processes of very close groups. These groups place greater importance on group solidarity and uniformity than on objectively evaluating the alternatives related to a decision.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Kira McLelland English 11 September 30th, 2017 Second Period Herd Mentality Herd mentality, or mob mentality, describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors. They have been prevalent descriptors for human behavior since people began to form tribes, migrate in groups, and perform cooperative marketing and agricultural functions. The idea of a "group mind" or "mob behavior" was first put forward by 19th-century French social psychologists.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this article, we will develop a definition of “group mind” in the light of articles such as “opinions and social pressure” by Solomon E. Asch, and “the follower problem” by David brooks. The definition of the group mind that we will develop from these articles will be used to analyze the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. In this article, we will analyze and apply the definition of group mind developed and use it to analyze the story of Shirley Jackson, and use examples from the texts to further Introduction: According to Solomon E. Asch, group mind or thinking of a group of people have a profound effect on the thought procedure of an individual. Solomon says “That social influences shape every person’s practices, judgments and T,…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Factors that cause deindividuation include anonymity, responsibility, group membership and size, and arousal. However, Postmes and Spears’ meta-analysis of 60 studies (1998) does not support Zimbardo’s theory and instead suggests that factors that affect deindividuation “decrease variability of people’s actions in collectives.” Postmes and Spears’ analysis is also supportive of the emergent norm theory, norms that emerge from a crowd due to the actions of a few key dominant group members. The Theory argues that group behavior is not out of control, but is socially structured by a temporary norm. In the Experiment, it may seem as if the events were out of control.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    On the other hand, groups can work out for certain activities where individuals can’t achieve on their own. The conditions for groupthink are important to analyze in order to comprehend the reasons behind people engaging in it. Janis has documented eight so called symptoms of groupthink while studying this decision process: Illusion of invulnerability, collective rationalization, belief in inherent morality, stereotypes, direct pressure, self-censorship, Illusion of unanimity and acting more of a guard against other information that seems threatening to the group cohesiveness. These symptoms have shown to more likely indicators for groupthink to happen though it may not occur even in the presence these factors. It is without question that groupthink will likely occur when members feel uncertain about a specific tasks and making decisions that could affect the outcome.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Group Process Reflection

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In every group, structured or not, the group process has many effects on the overall group. This paper will look at the group processes of our cohort, the interactions between subgroups, and the way that it has affected the overall distance learning cohort. It will look at themes which have played out during our most recent trip to campus, namely subgroups formed, as well as the difference in anxiety levels between the foundation and concentration groups and the behaviors that were demonstrated. Next it will identify and discuss instances of here-and-now moments within the groups and consider the process commentary that we saw emerge and reflect on possible meanings for it. Finally it will depict how the groups illustrated the concepts of…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays