[Groupthink] The antecedents of groupthink

The antecedents of groupthink

When we are cooperating with your group mates, one of the disadvantages is the existence of group think.

Before we try to limit the effect of groupthink, we should try to understand the the antecedents of groupthink.

There are three kinds of antecedents that will lead to groupthink which are high cohesiveness, group structure, and stressful situations.

Although high cohesiveness will enhance group performance, it can also deduct the group performance due to the failure of decision cause by groupthink. 


When a group become cohesive, it is likely to decrease the number of disagreement because of the pressure to conform. In this case, less idea or action will be come up with and the group will tend to choose the same idea which may lead to failure. This high cohesiveness will create self-censorship and apparent unanimity in a group.

Another antecedent of groupthink is the group structure which is mainly divided into four factors.

The first one is the homogeneous members. A group consist of homogeneous members will have similar background such as education and culture. Their way of thinking can be also similar. Because of the reasons which have been mentioned above, the groups thought is limited in their own point of view and it is hard for them to considerate from outsider’s angle. At last their ideas will tend to be the same and avoid risk taking.

The second one is isolation, which means that the group is isolated from that people. When the group is isolated, it does not require gaining ideas from outsiders and draws the decision by them. For example, the government wants to make some decision but it wants the decision or action remains secret. Then the government will not gain any opinion or criticism from outsiders. Without the opinions of outsiders, it’s very easy to fall into illusions of group invulnerability and morality.

The third one is directive leadership. Why leader is very important? It’s because leader can control the group process and have greater influence than other members. If a strong leader exists in the group discussion and always gives his opinions clearly, it’s likely the group discussion will be limited or controlled. And the group members hide their own opinions and conform on leader’s decision due to the pressure. This situation often happens in the military. In the discussion it’s very important to have disagreements. A discussion without any dissents, the decision will have many undefined problem even result in great loss.

The fourth one is unsystematic procedure for making and reviewing decisions. If the decision making procedure is unsystematic, for example, the decision is made by the leader of the team based on his preference but not the result of discussion, it may also cause group think. If the procedure of reviewing decision is missing, it will cause problem because there is no chance for members to judge the decision again after the decision is made.

The last antecedent is stressful situation. 

When a group is under stress, assuming that time is limited to make an important decision, the person who makes this decision will feel insecurity and attempts to find the reassuring support of other group members. Somehow the group will also reassure the decision in order to reduce the stress. Then it may lead to a situation that everyone agree on the decision without and disagreement. It causes the groupthink. In this case, under stress, urgency can overrule accuracy. But this kind of decision making model can reduce the time to make a decision and it’s not necessary to have a bad outcome when the problem is a routine one.