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Groupthink is a phenomenon in which the members of a group override their individuality in favor of unanimity. Scholars have ascribed bad decision making to groupthink, for example, in U.S. policy during the Vietnam War.
But how do outsiders interpret groupthink when they observe the behavior of a group and its members?
A research team had subjects rate groups, such as corporations, sports teams and government parties, about how much the group has its own collective intelligence. Subjects also rated how much each member of the group had a mind of his or her own. Finally, they rated the perceived cohesiveness of the group.
And the perception was that the more cohesive a group the less its individual members are thought to have independent thought. The study is in the journal Psychological Science.
A second experiment revealed that subjects did not hold members of a very cohesive group responsible for their individual actions. Indeed, some people argue that John Pike, the now infamous pepper-spray cop, was not accountable. And that the responsibility for his actions rests higher, with the police force and local government. Such notions may get tested in court. With psychologists as expert witnesses.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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8 Comments
Add Comment? This question was resolved decades ago at Nuremberg.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMinor suggestion. The spelling is "individuals". :-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCorporations are the best example of this. No one, not anybody, no individuals were really, really responsible for what happened on Wall Street during the Bush administration. The Founding Fathers must be turning over and over and over in their Graves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis question was resolved eons ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat we have here is yet one more in a long line of studies confirming stuff that everyone already knows.
Everyone except for these researchers, who apparently lack so much social contact that they think the results of their efforts are revelatory.
In Japan when a corporation is found to have done something wrong, it is often the corporate head who takes responsibility and resigns, no matter who is actually responsible. Among evangelical Christians, if an individual morally and/or criminally errs, it is often the case that if the individual admits mea culpa and asks forgiveness from God, then all is forgiven. There are many kinds of groupthink.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis illustrates why big government is so corrupt.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow convenient for members of groups. Either the study is phony, or the people who participated in it are particularly juvenile. Our mothers all told us not to join the lemmings going over the edge of the cliff, and most of us learned something from that admonition.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@#4: You are mistaken. The mechanism causing the "groupthink" phenomenon has not been determined.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@#6: Most employees of governments are honest, dedicated and independent-minded and we couldn't function without their expertise.
Perhaps you're referring to political appointee/operatives such as those that inevitably inhabit the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court.
@#7: Yes, the groups of wayward members should be held accountable for the latters' abuse of others, especially those with national fiduciary roles, such as banks.