Ch 7: “Groupthink”

A topic that caught my interest in chapter 7 was the one on “combating groupthink,” pg 190. It talked about failures in group communication which lead to the space shuttle Challenger’s disaster in 1986. Irving Janis coined the term groupthink as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the member’s striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action,” (pg190). This can be applied to our government actions in the wake of 9/11, which has lead to two never ending wars and a financial melt down that is still going steady. Money which could be used to revive our economy and support our children’s education is being used for the wrong reasons. “Collective rationalizations” are used to explain away problems or failures, such as in the case of the BP oil spill mess. They use euphemisms like “friendly casualty” and “collateral damage” to describe errors in bombing innocent civilians. Members are encouraged to stick to a particular course of action, even when information to the contrary is received. Groupthink is very dangerous in the hands of people who are powerful, refuse censorship and share the same morals. In my opinion, a course in Communication should be a requirement for top jobs or positions in government.