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 149
... Robert Kennedy , the President expressed " the danger and concern we all felt hung like a cloud over us " by asking , " Isn't there some way we can avoid having our first exchange with a Russian submarine — almost anything but that ...
... Robert Kennedy , the President expressed " the danger and concern we all felt hung like a cloud over us " by asking , " Isn't there some way we can avoid having our first exchange with a Russian submarine — almost anything but that ...
Page 151
... Robert Kennedy's contributions to the group's decisions : " His contribution was far more than administrative . . . he opposed a massive sur- prise attack of a large country on a small country because he believed such an attack to be ...
... Robert Kennedy's contributions to the group's decisions : " His contribution was far more than administrative . . . he opposed a massive sur- prise attack of a large country on a small country because he believed such an attack to be ...
Page 280
... Robert Kennedy , Dean Rusk , Robert McNamara , and McGeorge Bundy . It is unlikely that these powerful men who were closest to the President would have a high degree of personal concern about being regarded as troublemakers and damaging ...
... Robert Kennedy , Dean Rusk , Robert McNamara , and McGeorge Bundy . It is unlikely that these powerful men who were closest to the President would have a high degree of personal concern about being regarded as troublemakers and damaging ...
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Common terms and phrases
Acheson administration Admiral Kimmel advisers advisory group Allen Dulles alternative American assumptions attack avoid Bay of Pigs bombing CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 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 group dynamics groupthink hypothesis groupthink syndrome groupthink tendencies Haldeman Hawaii Ibid in-group inner circle invasion plan Japanese Johnson Joint Chiefs Kennan Kennedy's Korean War leader major Marshall Plan McNamara meetings military moral naval 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 social Sorensen Soviet Union stereotypes stress symptoms of groupthink thinking threat tion transcripts Truman UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Vietnam Vietnam War warning Watergate cover-up White House group