ABSTRACT
Janis (1972, 1982, 1989) defined groupthink asthe extreme concurrence sought by decisionmaking groups. Groupthink is most likely to occur when a group experiences antecedent conditions such as high cohesion, insulation from experts, limited methodological search and appraisal procedures, directive leadership, and high stress combined with low self-esteem and little hope of finding a better solution than that favored by the leader or influential group members. Such conditions lead to symptoms of groupthink such as illusions of invulnerability, collective rationalization, belief in the inherent morality of the group, stereotypes of outgroups, pressure on dissenters, self-censorship, illusions of unanimity, and self-appointed mindguards. Groupthink is hypothesized to result in poor quality decisions and defective decision-making symptoms such as incomplete survey of alternatives and objectives, failure to examine risks of preferred solution, failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives, poor information search, selective bias in processing information at hand, and failure to develop contingency plans.
