Review the ATTACHED “Group Think” article. Also go to this link and read it: https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm

 Then, discuss the following questions:

A. What is a possible theme of Marquez’ “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and how does the author use setting and symbol to convey the theme? Provide a specific example for setting and symbol.
B. How does group think and/or confirmation bias manifest in Marquez’s story? Provide 1-2 specific examples.
*Keep in mind our ongoing examination of perception and how various factors construct the way an individual views the world and others in it.

300+ words

GroupThink

Group think is an occurrence where by a group comes to a unanimous decision about a possible action
despite the existence of fact that points to another correct course of action. This term was first given by
Irving Janis who was a social psychologist. His main aim was to understand how a group of individuals
came up with excellent decisions one time and totally messed up ones at other times.

According to Irving, in a group sometimes there comes a situation when all the members of the
groupthink it is more important to come to a unanimous decision than to carefully go through all their
options to get at the most beneficial course of action.

Some famous examples of group – think are the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Bay of Pigs
invasion. It has been reported that the engineers of the space shuttle knew about some faulty parts
months before takeoff, but in order to avoid negative press, they went ahead with the launch anyway. In
the second case, President Kennedy made a decision and the people around him supported it despite
having their own doubts.

In groupthink, the members of the group place emphasis on everyone agreeing and feel threatened if all
do not agree on a course of action. This results on better options being overlooked, people overcoming
their basic thoughts of providing alternatives, critiques or a new opinion. This results in poor decision
making, unmet goals and problem solving.

Groupthink occurs normally when there a strong sense of “we” in the group. In such a case people want
to be on good terms with their group no matter what the cost. They try to maintain the harmony of the
group and sacrifice individual critical thinking for groupthink.

According to Janis, Groupthink happens when there is a strong, persuasive group leader, a high level of
group cohesion and intense pressure from the outside to make a good decision.

Janis listed eight symptoms of groupthink: The first two stem from overconfidence in the group’s
power. The next pair reflects the limited vision, members use to view the problem and the last four are
signs of strong compliance pressure from within the group.

1.
1. Illusions of invulnerability: Here the groups display excessive optimism and

take big risks. The members of the group feel they are perfect and that anything
they do will turn out to be successful.

2. Collective Rationalization: Here members of the group rationalize thoughts or
suggestions that challenge what the majority is thinking. They try giving reasons
as to why the others don’t agree and thereby go ahead with their original
decisions.

3. Belief in Inherent morality of the group: There is a belief that whatever the
group does it will be right as they all know the difference between right and
wrong. This causes them to overlook the consequences of what they decide.

4. Out – Group Stereotypes: The group believes that those who disagree are
opposed to the group on purpose. They stereotype them as being incapable of
taking their right decisions and as being weak or evil.

5. Direct Pressure on Dissenters: The majority directly threaten the person who
questions the decisions by telling them that they can always leave the group if
they don’t want to agree with the majority. Pressure is applied to get them to
agree.

6. Self – Censorship: People engage in self – censorship where they believe that
if they are the only odd one out then they must be the one who is wrong.

7. Illusions of unanimity: Silence from some is considered to be acceptance of
the majority’s decision.

8. Self – Appointed Mind Guards: They are members of the group who take it
upon themselves to discourage alternative ideas from being expressed in the
group.

To avoid Groupthink, it is important to have a process in place for checking the fundamental assumptions
behind important decisions, for validating the decision-making process, and for evaluating the risks
involved. It is important to explore objectives and alternatives, encourage challenging of ideas, have back
–up plans, etc. If needed gather data and ideas from outside sources and evaluate them objectively.

If at any point group – think is detected, go back to the beginning and recheck the initial alternatives,
discuss in the group about the threats of group – think and then make an active effort to increase the
effectiveness of decision making by analyzing all angles.

It is best to establish an open climate and assign the role of critical evaluator. Group Techniques like
brainstorming, nominal group technique, six thinking hats, the delphi technique, etc can be used. Make it
compulsory to go through certain practices like risk analysis, impact analysis and use the ladder of
inference. Use a policy-forming group which reports to the larger group and use different policy groups for
different tasks.

On Your MLA Works Cited Page:

“Group Think.” Communicationtheory.org, n.d., https://www.communicationtheory.org/groupthink/

When you first introduce this source:

According to the article “Group Think” from the website Communicationtheory.org, it discuss how….

When you have already introduced this source before:

The online article “Group Think” also asserts that …