Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Group Think

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

I don't believe that people naturally and easily think the same.  Yes,  
they do sometimes, but all the time?
Even among the people I'm closest to, some of whom I have known for  
decades, I have disagreements, sometimes
trivial and sometimes pretty serious ones.

In short: I guess I don't really understand the term 'groupthink',   
except as a something that either happens very
rarely - it does so happen that a bunch of people think all the same  
(or think they do at the moment the discussion
takes place), or that is a result of the fact that not everyone feels  
comfortable expressing disagreement.  This might be because
there is a subtle or not so subtle pressure to tow the line, or  
because one brings baggage that makes it hard for
them to assert independent opinions...

I agree with a comment made by someone that slowing down the decision  
making to allow some thinking between meetings helps.
Not everyone thinks well on their feet, and even some who do can get  
distracted.  On a number of occasions when we made a quick
decision on a seemingly simple and straight forward thing, I found  
myself having additional thoughts on the way home, and i'm sure i'm
not the only one who has experienced that.

Racheli.

On Jul 3, 2011, at 3:04 PM, Sharon Villines wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
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