The Concept of Groupthink - Essay Example

The concept of groupthink does not have a positive connotation because it leads to the inadequacy of creativity within a person, distinctiveness, and independent reasoning (Nijstad, 2009). Groupthink also causes people to quickly reach conclusions without critically appraising the ideas in question. When the members of a group indulge in groupthink there occurs an inadequacy in the establishment of objectives and choices (Nijstad, 2009). There is some degree of failure by the group’s members to discuss the risks in their decisions and there is also a lack of advice from experts. A group that involves itself in the event selects information that is only applicable to its position. The members of the team do not also form contingency plans to use in case they experience failures in their decisions. Groupthink is an event that occurs when the members of a high solid group give the highest priorities to the harmony of their group (Nijstad, 2009). Their harmony occurs at the expense of the consideration of their choices and opportunities.

The conditions that must be present for groupthink to occur are numerous. For this event to occur there should be a high degree of unity within the group, no fair leadership, and a lack of standards requiring that the group uses certain methodologies. The presence of uniformities in the communal ideologies and backgrounds of the members could also facilitate the occurrence of this phenomenon. When a group encounters threats from their external environments to reach a certain decision, they could easily result in the event. Groupthink also occurs as a result of the current failures the group encounters, the presence of difficulties when reaching decisions, and ethical confusion. This means that the group does something without considering the ethical grounds or impacts of their decisions (Nijstad, 2009).

 Groupthink has various characteristics that range from ignorance of the members to the outcomes of their actions since the members do not have open minds. The group also experiences a lot of pressure to unify and reach common decisions. Silence during group discussions is seen as approval for the decisions made. In a situation where groupthink exists, some members in the groups prevent others from rebelling against the decisions made by the majority. The group members also suffer from extreme forms of buoyancy in their decisions (Nijstad, 2009). The members who resent the group’s decisions get warnings from other group leaders to stop the acts.

Finally, several potential consequences occur due to this phenomenon. The phenomenon refrains the members from indulging in creative thinking as they all follow what the majority favor. Groupthink leads the members into ignoring vital pieces of information and facts that will enable them to make appropriate decisions. It leads the group into making deficient reviews of their choices and alternatives besides failing to properly examine the risks of their choices. The occurrence of groupthink leads the members into ignoring the re-evaluation of the other alternatives (Nijstad, 2009). The proper and intensive search for information is not done since all the members agree on one decision no matter how faulty it might be. The lack of an information search leads to biases in selecting the relevant information to use when making decisions.

A situation where groupthink leads people into doing wrong in pop culture is when musicians urge their fans to smoke cannabis sativa to be creative. The fans then blindly get into the habit without thinking about the repercussions of their actions.