Groupthink, originally coined by William H. Whyte Jr. (1952) and formally expanded by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972, 1982), refers to a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, where the members' striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.
- Janis's Antecedent Conditions: Groupthink does not occur in arbitrary assemblies; it requires specific structural and situational preconditions: high group cohesiveness, isolation of the group from outside influences, directive leadership, and high stress from external threats with low hope of a better solution than that proposed by the leader.
- Key Symptoms Outlined by Janis: The phenomenon manifests through eight core symptoms categorized into three domains: Type I (Overestimation of the group - illusion of invulnerability, belief in inherent morality), Type II (Closed-mindedness - collective rationalization, stereotyped views of out-groups), and Type III (Pressures toward uniformity - self-censorship, illusion of unanimity, direct pressure on dissenters, and the emergence of self-appointed 'mindguards').
- Theoretical Evolution: Later cognitive and organizational psychologists (e.g., Aldag & Fuller, 1993; Esser, 1998) re-evaluated Janis's model, suggesting that group cohesiveness is a weaker predictor than previously thought, whereas procedural faults and political accountability play far more significant roles in defective decision-making.