Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and FiascoesGroupthink - the psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses disagreement and prevents the appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups. In the first edition (Victims of groupthink), Iriving L. Janis showed how this phenomenon contributed to some of the major U.S. foreign policy fiascos of recent decades: the Korean War stalemate, the escalation of the Vietnam War, the failure to be prepared for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Bay of Pigs blunder. He also examined cases, such as the handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the formulation of the Marshall Plan, where groupthink was avoided. Here, in this revised and expanded edition, Janis applies his hypothesis to the Watergate cover-up, portraying in detail how groupthink helped to put the participants on a disastrous couurse and keep them there. In addition, he presents some fresh ideas on how and why groupthink occurs and offers suggestions for avoiding it. |
From inside the book
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Page viii
... consequences of their decisions . The second section , for comparative purposes , presents two case studies of well worked out decisions made by similar groups whose members made realistic appraisals of the consequences . One of these ...
... consequences of their decisions . The second section , for comparative purposes , presents two case studies of well worked out decisions made by similar groups whose members made realistic appraisals of the consequences . One of these ...
Page 41
... consequences of their preferred course of action and that might lead to dissension instead of a comfortable consensus . Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles , who had attended a White House meeting at which he was given no opportunity ...
... consequences of their preferred course of action and that might lead to dissension instead of a comfortable consensus . Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles , who had attended a White House meeting at which he was given no opportunity ...
Page 176
... consequences is the relatively poor quality of the thinking that goes into the public statements made by national leaders when they announce and try to ex- plain policy decisions that are the products of groupthink . Tetlock did a com ...
... consequences is the relatively poor quality of the thinking that goes into the public statements made by national leaders when they announce and try to ex- plain policy decisions that are the products of groupthink . Tetlock did a com ...
Contents
Why So Many Miscalculations? | 2 |
The Bay of Pigs | 14 |
The Wrong | 48 |
Copyright | |
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Acheson administration Admiral Kimmel advisers advisory group alternative American assumptions attack avoid Bay of Pigs bombing Castro Chiefs of Staff Chinese cohesive group Communist concurrence-seeking consensus course of action critical Cuba Cuban missile crisis danger Dean Defense deliberations discussion effect Ehrlichman enemy evidence Executive Committee expected fiasco forces group dynamics groupthink hypothesis groupthink syndrome groupthink tendencies Haldeman Hawaii Ibid in-group inner circle invasion plan issues Japanese Johnson Joint Chiefs judgment Kennan Kennedy's Korean War leader major Marshall Marshall Plan McNamara meetings military moral naval Navy group Nixon norms North Korea North Vietnam officers participants Pearl Harbor Pentagon Papers policy-making group political present President Kennedy President's pressures problem procedures psychological questions responsible risks Robert Kennedy role Rusk Schlesinger Secretary shared sion social Soviet Union stereotypes stress symptoms of groupthink thinking threat tion transcripts Truman Vietnam Vietnam War warning Watergate cover-up White House group Wohlstetter