The Essay” Group Minds” was written by Doris Lessing. In it, she argues that the government retains “hard information” about human actions/behaviour from schools to keep people submissive. “We (the human race) are now in possession of a great deal of hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore our lives. (266)” This is information that will set people free from “blind loyalties, obedience to slogans, rhetoric, leaders, and group emotions. (267)” Lessing firmly believes this would be useful, if students learn to deliberate these rule with an indifferent approach. Which, as a result will improve schools and students lives; more people will become individuals and learn to withstand group pressures.…
Group Minds is a very interesting and informative piece. Author Doris Lessing does a very good job trying to inform people about what is wrong with groups changing your opinion, and the idea that we do not use the information we have to improve ourselves. She offers a lot of good information, including an experiment that adds to her opinion about social groups.…
4) Groupthink is when individuals held back their stating views in a meeting and agreed to someone else's position or can go along with the boss suggestion when in fact the individual disagreed with suggestions. These caused a highly cohesive teams to lose their critical evaluative capabilities. There are several symptoms of groupthink such as illusions of invulnerability, Belief in inherent group morality, self-censorship by members, illusions of unanimity, mind guarding, rationalizing unpleasant and disconfirming data. Illusions of invulnerability are one symptom of groupthink because the members who form part of the team assume that the team is well capable of criticism or is beyond attack. The belief in inherent group morality…
The article "Group Mind" by Doris Lessing was about people wanting to be in groups. A group is several people with a common interest. Being in a group gives us a sense of belonging; people out there being just like us. Lessing says; "We tend to think the way the group does: may even joined the group to find "like minded" people" (Lessing 357). This is because if we see other people in the world that are like us, then we will feel more wanted.…
Each member must be willing to bend a little so the group can reach their common goal…
Group decision making can be very helpful in getting different thoughts and opinions out of discussion, but also can be dangerous because of groupthink. Groupthink occurs when people avoid individually testing, analyzing, and evaluating facts in order to avoid upsetting the consensus of a group. In effect a conflict occurs whereby some topics are okay to discuss while others are closed often without the group being consciously aware of it. Those who violate the unspoken rules often find themselves being ostracized, alienated and ultimately expelled from the group.…
Groupthink is a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressure (Verderber, Verderber, & Sellnow, 2011). Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups (Miller, 2010). A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making (Miller, 2010).…
Bagley, C. & Tremblay, P. (2000). Elevated rates of suicidal behavior in gay, lesbian, and…
Groups. Teams. High-performance teams. What is a group? "A group is a collection of people who interact with one another regularly to attain common goals" (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2005). Over the years, groups have helped organizations achieve important tasks. They have also been resourceful of helping the members of organization to improve task performance and experience more satisfaction with their work. Groups are good for people, can improve creativity, can make better decisions, can increase commitments to action, help control organization members, and help offset a large organization size (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2005). Therefore, with all this positivity from a group, a group can form into a high-performance team through several stages and the actions of an effective manager.…
Dismissing your own individual opinions to reach group consensus, now that’s negative peer pressure! Peer pressure will always be a problem and can affect anyone. I say that because no matter where you’re from or who you are, peer pressure is lurking about. Anytime you’re pressured to do something and your conscience is telling you not to do it, and you follow through with the task anyway, that is dismissing your opinion just to please other group members. Not wanting to be ostracized by others is the basis of conformity. Peer pressure doesn’t discriminate against race, nationality, or social class. It’s like a plague waiting to spread like wildfire throughout your school, your workplace, even your home-life. Some may think that’s too dramatic, but I envision it as the horrid truth. The article “Group Minds,” written by Doris Lessing, comes from her series of the 1985 Massey Lectures. Lessing declares “When we 're in a group, we tend to think as that group does: we may even have joined the group to find "like-minded" people. But we also find our thinking changing because we belong to a group.” I believe that no one realizes that their opinions are at risk of becoming dismissed just because they want to fit. The new-comers insist on becoming accepted, and as a result of that, we tend to forget about our own opinions, whether we agree or not.…
Illusion of Unanimity: Members perceive falsely that everyone agrees with the group decision silence is seen as consent.…
I have always had a different idea of what groupthink really means, to me I thought of it as a bad idea from someone amongst a group of people that had not been voiced seemingly because the person having this thought lacks confidence or backing. More like trying to proof to your business partners that an idea of using an outdated tactic to target a young crowd is not the best idea In its own definition Wikipedia(2013) describes groupthink as a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision- making outcome, whereas it can also be viewed as the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group…
Superficially the ideas promoted through groupthink often result in decisions appearing well founded and heavily supported, however the outcomes of such decisions are most frequently detrimental. Factors of cognitive dissonance are quite often evident in members of groupthink decisions, with individuals finding in reflection that they generally possessed ideas starkly contrasting the concepts which they just publically supported. Such incongruity in beliefs and decisions according to Hackman and Johnson arise when groups “put unanimous agreement above all other considerations” (Hackman Johnson 214). Personally through my participation in my local caving club, the Paha Sapa Grotto, I have witnessed and fallen victim to groupthink, the ramifications of which are still negatively effecting the grotto today.…
There are eight symptoms of groupthink. The first symptom is when all or most of the group view themselves as invincible which causes them to make decisions that may be risky. The group has an enormous amount of confidence and authority in their decisions as well as in themselves. They see themselves collectively better in all ways than any other group and they believe the event will go well not because of what it is, but because they are involved. The second symptom is the belief of the group that they are moral and upstanding, which leads the group to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of the decisions. The group engages in a total overestimation of its morality. There is never any question that the group is not doing the right thing, they just act. The disregarding of information or warnings that may lead to changes in past policy is the third symptom. Even if there is considerable evidence against their standpoint, they see no problems with their plan. Stereotyping of enemy leaders or others as weak or stupid is the fourth symptom. This symptom leads to close-mindedness to other individuals and their opinions. The fifth symptom is the self-censorship of an individual causing him to overlook his doubts. A group member basically keeps his mouth shut so the group can continue in harmony. Symptom number six refers to the illusion of unanimity; going along with the majority, and the…
Jesuits would agree with former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn’s famous remark: “When two people always agree about everything, it just goes to show that one of them is doing all the thinking!” We respect that. We also know that if union is to be achieved, it can only come out of difference. The point of the process I am outlining here is to provide a method for moving from difference to consensus amicably and prayerfully.…