Groupthink In War

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FUTURE RESEARCH Warfare environments are typically associated with a high level of stress, which can cause a variety of strange behaviors. Groupthink can be connected to groups of people operating in a high stress environment (Passer & Smith, 2011, p. 650). Groupthink is “the tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement” (Passer & Smith, 2011, p. 650). And although in a battle, soldiers aren’t typically seeking agreement, they will suspend their critical thinking as a group. This was seen in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. We wanted to see that in battle, soldiers will often suspend their own critical thinking and follow the lead of those around them in order to accomplish the mission.