ChapteR 10 Behavior in Social and Cultural Context 357extreme form of conformity called groupthink, the
tendency for a group’s participants to think alike
and suppress dissent. According to Irving Janis
(1982, 1989), groupthink occurs when a group’s
need for total agreement overwhelms its need
to make the wisest decision. The symptoms of
groupthink include the following:• An illusion of invulnerability. The group be-
lieves it can do no wrong and is 100 percent
correct in its decisions.
• Self-censorship. Dissenters decide to keep
quiet rather than make trouble, offend their
friends, or risk being ridiculed.
• Pressure on dissenters to conform. The
leader teases or humiliates dissenters or other-
wise pressures them to go along.
• An illusion of unanimity. By discouraging dis-
sent and failing to consider alternative courses
of action, leaders and group members create an
illusion of consensus; they may even explicitly
order suspected dissenters to keep quiet.Throughout history, groupthink has led to
disastrous decisions in military and civilian life. In
1961, President John F. Kennedy and his advisers
approved a CIA plan to invade Cuba at the Bay of
Pigs and try to overthrow the government of Fidel
Castro; the invasion was a humiliating defeat. In
the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson and his
cabinet escalated the war in Vietnam despite obvi-
ous signs that further bombing and increased troops
were not bringing the war to an end. In 1986, NASA
officials insulated themselves from the dissenting
objections of engineers who warned them that the
space shuttle Challenger was unsafe; NASA launched
it anyway, and it exploded shortly after takeoff.
And when President George W. Bush launched an
invasion of Iraq, claiming the country had weapons
of mass destruction and was allied with al-Qaeda,groupthink The ten-
dency for all members
of a group to think alike
for the sake of har-
mony and to suppress
disagreement.(Claidière & Whiten, 2012). One motive is the
need for social acceptance, which is the reason that
people can end up doing all kinds of stupid things
(or smart things) simply because their friends
are doing them. Taking advantage of this motive,
social psychologists have designed interven-
tions that rally people’s peer groups to help them
stop smoking and binge drinking, stay in school,
improve their academic performance, and make
many other beneficial changes they might not
make on their own (Wilson, 2011).
The second motive for conformity is the need
for information before deciding on the “right”
thing to do (Cialdini, 2009). People often intui-
tively understand that sometimes the group knows
more than they do, and this reliance on group
judgment begins in early childhood. When 3- and
4-year-old children were given a choice between
relying on information provided by a three-adult
majority or a single adult about the name of an
unfamiliar object, they sided with the majority
(Corriveau, Fusaro, & Harris, 2009). It works the
same way with adults: The belief that “everyone
else” is doing something must mean it is the wisest
choice or course of action.
Like obedience, therefore, conformity has
positive aspects. Society runs more smoothly
when people feel that they belong, know how to
behave in a given situation, and share the same
norms. But also like obedience, conformity has
negative consequences, notably its power to sup-
press critical thinking and creativity. In a group,
many people will deny their private beliefs, agree
with silly notions, and even repudiate their own
values—just to be accepted.
groupthink LO 10.11
Close, friendly groups usually work well together.
But they face the problem of getting the best ideas
and efforts from their members while avoiding an
Sometimes people like to conform to feel part of the group... and sometimes they like to assert their individuality.