Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Group Think

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 3 Jul 2011, at 3:36 PM, Robin Alexander wrote:

> "When conditions of fear or threat exist or are suspected, then group
> conformity pressures become
> multiplied and punishment for dissent usually becomes harsher."
> 
> and was the reason for my earlier statement of surprise that group think
> occurs just from amiability and esprit de corps. (And that's still my
> reading of the original quote of this thread.) I think that fear of some
> sort is a major if perhaps not necessary component.

But fear isn't a factor in what Janis named group think. The phenomenon that 
Janis was concerned with is that people delude themselves into thinking they 
are right _because_ they all agree with each other. They all think alike so 
they reinforce each others reasoning. Later psychological studies have 
confirmed this. In groups, people are much more likely to see what everyone 
else in the group sees. In groups, people are easier to convince that black is 
white. _Willful Blindness_ discusses several of these studies.

Oppression and intimidation absolutely exist in many groups and can produce the 
same result. But in oppressive groups, people usually do NOT think the same 
thing — they object. They just can't speak up.

What Janis named group think was group members actually thinking the same 
thing. And a major factor that leads to this is being so comfortable with each 
other. Thinking the same things makes them so happy, they don't examine the 
facts or look for any contradictory information. 

It's a danger in choosing team members who "work well together." While teams 
need to work well enough to move forward, a decision is likely to be a more 
considered one if the team disagrees and works out their disagreements. 
Objections are good because they represent different points of view.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org