When ancient ideas linger for too long, and modern ideas become disregarded without proper attention, a serious issue arises: Groupthink. Defined as “a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics”, Groupthink has a major effect on group projects (Merriam-Webster). Whether it becomes a project within classrooms or decisions made regarding curriculum, Groupthink arises everywhere. This ‘conformity to group values’ causes decisions to no longer remain based on true belief, rather based on decisions of one high official, leading to a lack of improvement. In classrooms when one student takes control of the entire project, they leave everyone else uninvolved. Those who …show more content…
While working in groups, students’ understanding of the topic lessens due to their dependence on others. “Most or all of the members of the in-group share an illusion of invulnerability that provides for them some degree of reassurance about obvious dangers and leads them to become over-optimistic and willing to take extraordinary risks. It also causes them to fail to respond to clear warnings of danger … A similar attitude appeared among members of President Lyndon B. Johnson's in-group, the ‘Tuesday Cabinet,’ which kept escalating the Vietnam War despite repeated setbacks and failures” (Janis 3). By attempting to appear invulnerable to prevent questioning, groups lose the effect of differing opinions. During the Vietnam War, the decisions made harmed the United States, however, the decision remained to continue the fight. "There was a belief," Bill Moyers commented after he resigned, ‘that if we indicated a willingness to use our power, they [the North Vietnamese] would get the message and back away from …show more content…
Stephen Wozniak, the designer of the first personal computer, worked alone. “He’d arrive around 6:30 a.m. and, alone in the early morning, read engineering magazines, study chip manuals, and prepare designs in his head” and would return to the office late at night to continue the process (Cain 73). In his memoir, Wozniak leaves a note saying “Work alone ... You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team” (291-292). For people who have trouble communicating their ideas, working alone is bliss. In the United States of America, fifty percent of the population consists of introverts or about one hundred and sixty-two million people (Buettner). With countless people struggling to express their views, frequent failures arise. In several cases, “Collective decision-making failures are often attributed to group members’ unwillingness to express unpopular opinions, and incident investigations frequently name lack of dissent as a causal factor” of Groupthink (Packer 546). When half of the population in the United States struggles to express their opinion, a serious problem emerges. With Groupthink on the rise, numerous decision-making failures must be anticipated. For these one hundred and sixty-two million people, learning in groups does not exist