Group-thinking bias
Pic says: “Due to desire for conformity and harmony in the group, we make irrational decisions, often to minimize conflict. Sally wants to go get ice cream, Francis wants to shop for t-shirts, and you suggest getting t-shirts with pictures of ice cream on them”
Article by: Khaiyam khalid
Order:
1: What is it?
“Consensual decision made irrationally in a group to avoid diversity”
2: Elaboration
In much better words than mine: “Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group.
People who are opposed to the decisions or overriding opinions of the group as a whole frequently remain quiet, preferring to keep the peace rather than disrupt the uniformity of the crowd.
The phenomenon can be problematic, but even well-intentioned people are prone to making irrational decisions in the face of overwhelming pressure from the group”
Simply your groups make decisions not rationally but in an emotional manner. And everyone plays a role irrationally in decision-making to avoid conflict and diversity no matter how bad and flawed conclusions will be faced.
3: Example
Almost all of us have experienced it, mostly in close-to-heart groups and circles.
In your school, your group is gathered to choose a member to lead the group in a contest.
You can easily perceive that when a few members vote for someone, everyone starts voting for that guy to add unity (also because of the bandwagon effect bias), but some may vote for others because they also deserve it, so they don’t want to break their heart and make peace and harmony in the group.
4: Explanation
This is one of the best cognitive biases coined and theorize in the early years.
Allegedly it’s all about emphasizing or making a decision irrationally in a group, converging emotionally to unite members of the group and to band them together.
On the contrary, dissents, defer, and adversities by preventing them. Being charismatically optimistic on an invincible unanimous & infallible solidarity. Which is nothing but pitfalls.
Let’s understand it in a manner:
The desire for unity:
A group is a noun for the unity of people. That’s why a member of the group who supports it, desires the group to be as it is. So he pays several sacrifices to rid the frowned-up faces, expressions and feelings. That person also insulates thoughts to bypass the exacerbation even perturbation.
And this is the nature of nearly every member.
Desire potential to irrationality:
This desire makes you irrational and loses mindfulness & critical thinking. You will think and accept thoughts with the emotional brain (you knew the emotional and rational mind before in the bandwagon effect bias, so I’m not going to clip it again otherwise the book will be long).
(We will discuss the effects on the time)
Symptoms:
“Signs of Groupthink
Groupthink may not always be easy to discern, but there are some signs that it is present. There are also some situations where it may be more likely to occur. Janis identified several different “symptoms” that indicate groupthink.
Illusions of unanimity lead members to believe that everyone is in agreement and feels the same way. It is often much more difficult to speak out when it seems that everyone else in the group is on the same page.
·Unquestioned beliefs lead members to ignore possible moral problems and not consider the consequences of individual and group actions.
Rationalizing prevents members from reconsidering their beliefs and causes them to ignore warning signs.
Stereotyping leads members of the in-group to ignore or even demonize out-group members who may oppose or challenge the group’s ideas. This causes members of the group to ignore important ideas or information
Self-censorship causes people who might have doubts to hide their fears or misgivings. Rather than sharing what they know, people remain quiet and assume that the group must know best.
“Mind-guards” act as self-appointed censors to hide problematic information from the group. Rather than sharing important information, they keep quiet or actively prevent sharing.
Illusions of invulnerability lead members of the group to be overly optimistic and engage in risk-taking. When no one speaks out or voices an alternative opinion, it causes people to believe that the group must be right.
Direct pressure to conform is often placed on members who pose questions, and those who question the group are often seen as disloyal or traitorous”
I also copy here word as word the causes of group thinking in detail:
“Group identity: It tends to occur more in situations where group members are very similar to one another. When there is a strong group identity, members of the group tend to perceive their group as correct or superior while expressing disdain or disapproval toward people outside of the group”
“Leader influences: Groupthink is also more likely to take place when a powerful and charismatic leader commands the group”
“Low knowledge: When people lack personal knowledge of something or feel that other members of the group are more qualified, they are more likely to engage in groupthink”
“Stress: Situations where the group is placed under extreme stress or where moral dilemmas exist also increase the occurrence of groupthink”
Derived from: verywellmind, and simple psychology.
5: Effects
It is effective in:
Belief
Social
Politics
Belief:
The limbic instinct of beliefs simultaneously gets down and with time eventually, your beliefs are lost. You choose others’ words and get stuck there.
It also affects belief in various ways.
Social:
The experiments show that it can have harmful impacts on the social Which are explained in detail. As you knew.
If everyone keeps going in the way of groups then the fights are determined, as we see in our nowadays. The clash between groups (nations, cultures, religions..) and deformations of humanity.
A group is about to make a decision and few people gave some decisions emotionally and we see everyone starts to accept that and the trends on the websites... Is that the way to beautify society? Never it’s just a loop of hate...
Politics:
If people start voting for a single person rationally then what things can happen in the world we can’t even imagine? And effects will lie in social...
6: How to?
It is always the same: think about why and what!
Why this decision? What is the goodness in it? And so on.
(It is not always evil. It has also bright sides)
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