Re: Group Think - Apathy is NOT a Factor
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 06:49:15 -0700 (PDT)
On 5 Jul 2011, at 9:10 AM, Joanie Connors wrote:

> Groupthink does not mean everyone is thinking alike. It means they are
> willing to appear to think the same as the majority.


Here is an earlier quote from Whyte:

William H. Whyte coined the term in 1952, in Fortune magazine:

Groupthink being a coinage — and, admittedly, a loaded one — a working 
definition is in order. We are not talking about mere instinctive conformity — 
it is, after all, a perennial failing of mankind. What we are talking about is 
a rationalized conformity — an open, articulate philosophy which holds that 
group values are not only expedient but right and good as well.[5]

The original one I posted from Janis:

Irving Janis led the initial research on the groupthink theory. His main 
principle of groupthink states:

The more amiability and esprit de corps there is among the members of a 
policy-making ingroup, the greater the danger that independent critical 
thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in 
irrational and dehumanizing actions against outgroups.[6]

The unforced nature of group think, is the one that I think is crucial to any 
group of people who have invested decades of their lives and probably most of 
the financial resources (income and outgo) on a concept like cohousing. It 
feels good, for example, to believe that cohousing is _the_ answer. No one 
needs to coerced by anyone in order to be a victim of group think. Group think 
is something we see in ourselves in hind sight but at the time, it just feels 
good, it feels right.

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





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