1. Precept Week 12
Groupthink & Culture of Honor

2. Janis (1971)
• What is groupthink?
• Examples? (Personal, historical?)

3. Janis (1971)
Groupthink: Causes
• Group cohesiveness/closeness
• Stress
• Group norms/priorities
– Morale
– Unity
– Loyalty
• Suppression of “deviant thoughts”
• Is this an automatic process?

4. Janis (1971)
Groupthink: Symptoms
1. Invulnerability beliefs
2. Rationalizing behaviors
3. Beliefs in inherent morality
4. Stereotyping outgroups
5. Pressuring dissenters
6. Self-censorship
7. Illusion of unnanimity
8. Mindguards

5. Janis (1971)
Groupthink: Consequences
• What are some consequences of
“groupthink”?
– Types of decisions reached
– Outcomes of decisions
– Response from other group(s)

6. Janis (1971)
Groupthink: Remedies
• Open discussion of criticisms
• Input from outsiders
• Leader sets (impartial) tone

7. Janis (1971)
Groupthink: Remedies
1. Prioritize open objecting/doubting
2. Leaders adopt impartial stance (no stated
preferences)
3. Set up outside groups (not insulated)
4. Leaders discuss with (outside) others & report
reactions
5. Invite outside experts
6. Play devil’s advocate
7. Analyze rivals’ intentions/warning signs
8. Meet separately in subgroups
9. Final “second chance” meeting to re-visit doubts &
criticisms

8. Janis (1971)
Groupthink
• Value of this article/framework?
• Empirics vs. other methodologies
• Potential future directions

9. Nisbett & Cohen (1996)
Culture of Honor

10. Nisbett & Cohen (1996)
Culture of Honor
• What is the “culture of honor”?
– When is violence okay?
– Boundary conditions?
– Politeness?
• Who is from N vs. S?
– Reactions?

11. • Is the “culture of honor” unique to the
South?
• Other examples of cultural differences that
could impact interpersonal perception?
• Types of cultures?
Nisbett & Cohen (1996)
Culture of Honor

12. Nisbett & Cohen (1996)
Culture of Honor
• Is culture an example of a “situation”?
• Is culture an example of a “disposition”?
• What is culture, & how does it affect
behavior?
• How did “culture” affect you during the in-
class exercise?

13. Style Notes
• Affect (v) – to influence (ah-FECT)
– The manipulation affects the outcome.
• Affect (n) – emotional reaction (AH-fect)
– The sad movie induced negative affect.
• Effect (n) – a result
– The study detected no effect – the control and experimental
conditions were identical.
Citation examples (year always goes right after authors):
Sim, Correll, & Sadler (2013) found that automatic biases can sometimes be
controlled.
As shown by Platt (1973), social traps can be tricky.
Groupthink can be detrimental to decision making (Janis, 1971).