The Perils of Groupthink for Creative, Independent-Minded People

[Gary Freedman]

Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by making decisions as a group. During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking. A variety of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish, or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group. Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group’s balance.

Irving Janis devised symptoms indicative of groupthink. These include:

--Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
--Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
--Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.
--Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty".
--Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
--Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
--Mindguards — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.

I think it's obvious that any creative, independent-minded person will have difficulty with a group in which groupthink prevails. Independent-minded people who do not buy into the group's value system will tend to be labeled as "weak, evil, biased, spiteful, disfigured, impotent, or stupid."

[Alendar]

Content, content, content. A stupid groupthinker is stupid. A stupid independent thinker is stupid. Someone who self censors a dissenting opinion for a stupid reason is stupid.

Stupid is as stupid does.

People who suppress good ideas in a group are stupid. People who opine stupidly are stupid. People who incorrectly stereotype a group are stupid.

It is pointless (and stupid) to identify entire general methodologies as stupid. To say individual creative thought is superior to a unanimous group opinion is stupid, as is vice versa. The measure must be something else, like outcome, greater good, pragmatic valuation, increase in wealth, increase in product, reduced output of waste.

These are not perfect measure either but they are better than classifying methods themselves. For instance, silence does not mean group members do not agree.

[Urbangal]

Actually, it sounds like Minnesota in general. Those damn Norweigans - "oooh, don't think outside the box now!"
Managing by consensus, groupthink, both dangerous to creativity and squanders opportunities to find innovative solutions to challenging situations.

[ZenDog]

Group think, sounds like the repelican party in action . . .