Group Think (Coursework Sample)

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Psychology
Group think
Group think is a theory or an idea of a type of thinking in which the bond between group members and unity among group members is considered as an important factor than any other element. In this thinking process a group of people are engaged deeply that results in peer- pressure. Different ideas and experiences are brought together to find a solution to the problem.
Group think is a result of poor leadership, a desire of group bonding, too much optimism and close mindedness. These groups are formed in an organization when there is too much of group power is observed. These groups often think of themselves as morally right and usually ignore warnings.
Group think results in several negative outcomes such as the discussion is only limited to its group members and only few alternatives may be found for a problem. The suggestion or solution given often approved by the group members faces risks. There is no importance of expert opinion for the reason these thinking groups often make poor decisions. Group members spend little or no time in discussing the problem and often neglect the courses of action.
Ways to prevent Group think
There are several ways to avoid or prevent group think in a place:
Every group member act as a critique.
There should be separate independent groups formed and those groups should be further divided into sub groups.
Discussion should also take place outside the groups with other trusted groups to find better and more alternatives.
In order to bring fresh new ideas other group members should also be invited to find out the effective alternatives to a solution.
Proper meeting procedures should be followed with a proper agenda i.e. the brainstorming session in the meeting should be a part of decision making process to gather several alternatives.
Good leadership is necessary to avoid group think as high quality decisions need to be clear and not just intimated. Intimidation by the leaders often results in excessive influence.
Therefore, in order to improve decision making ion a group, group think should be kept minimum.
Milgram’s Experiment of Obedience to Authority
Stanley Milgram conducted a famous experiment of obedience in psychology. His main focus was on the conflict between obedience to authority and one’s own behaviour. Milgram’s purpose was to find out whether Germans obedience in WWII was due to the obedience of authority or not.
For this purpose he selected male participants by advertising in a newspaper. These participants were paired as learners and teachers. There were 40 male participants aged between 20-50. Each one of them was paid $4.50 for participating. In the beginning of the experiment participants were introduced to another participant who was actually an accomplice of Milgram. Although, the role of the learner was fixed, the participants select their roles as a learner or teacher. An experimenter role was also played by an actor. Experiment was conducted in two rooms in Yale Interaction Lab. One room was allotted to the learner and the other room for the teacher and experimenter. Learner was fastened to the electric chair with electrodes whereas teacher had an electric shock generator.
A list of word pairs were given to learners to learn. The teacher tests the learner by aski...