Irving L. Janis' Victims of Groupthink

Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign Policy Decisions and Fiascoes by Irving L. Janis was published for the first time in 1972. In an unprecedented way, Janis applied ideas from small-group analysis to the explanation of policy fiascoes. He made plausible the hypothesis that each of these events can, to a considerable extent, be attributed to the occurrence of a very specific and obviously detrimental phenomenon within the groups of decisionmakers involved in their making. He called this phenomenon Groupthink, cleverly picking this highly suggestive Orwellian mode of expression (doublethink in Orwell's novel 1984). According to Janis, groupthink stands for an excessive form of concurrenceseeking among members of high prestige, tightly knit policy-making groups. It is excessive to the extent that the group members have come to value the group (and their being part of it) higher than anything else. This causes them to strive for a quick and painless unanimity on the issues that the group has to confront. To preserve the clubby atmosphere, group members suppress personal doubts, silence dissenters, and follow the group leader's suggestions. They have a strong belief in the inherent morality of the group, combined with a decidedly evil picture of the group's opponents. The results are devastating: a distorted view of reality, excessive optimism producing hasty and reckless policies, and a neglect of ethical issues. The combination of these deficiencies makes these groups particularly vulnerable to initiate or sustain projects that turn out to be policy fiascoes.