Group Polarization Perspectives (Essay Sample)

Student
Professor
Course
Date
Summary
In the book, the author brings different perspectives about Group polarization and also gives an insight into other perspectives about group think. To start with, he begin with elaborating that today human beings involve themselves in group decisions in companies, law firms, school boards, trade unions, religious organizations and even the government. People assemble themselves in either large or small groups to enable them decide on what to do. He gives reasons that it is due to the belief that when many heads come together, a better decision is reached. He cites Aristotle beliefs about groupthink: as a proponent of group work believes that discussions improve the quality of the few best suggestions. He also adds Philosopher John Rawls who was agreement with Aristotle, and wrote that nobody knows everything and that group work only paves way for combining and enlarging the range of ideas.
The author write that various leaders differ in their perspectives on group decision making. Some of them like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt believe that for one to make a good decision, a large group of people has to be involved. On the contrary, to some people, group decisions are just a waste of time. As such, he writes that groupthink, in this direction, has been found to be one of the major challenges to group work; it is one of the serious challenges that are facing many formations.
In definition, the author defines polarization as a situation where the group makes more extreme decisions than the initial inclination of the members. He gives a good example; holding a discussion on whether education makes life difficult or not. After such discussions, it will be noted that members will always arrive at more extreme decisions. I agree with the author in relation to group polarization. My experience with group discussions gives proof to this. At the start of such extreme decisions, most members always appear to be cautious because they always think that they might annoy some specific individuals. For example, I was in a discussion where people were discussing the issue of gay marriages and we had people with different views as well as conservatives. However, after the discussion, the group reached a consensus that was accepted by all t...