Groupthink
Groupthink can be defined as, “The condition where the desire for agreement within a group overrides the realistic appraisal of indispensable courses of action, downplays the pitfalls involved in the favored course of action, and becomes veritably picky in its use of information to support opinions ”( group- think, 2003). The effect of groupthink can have either positive or negative goods on a situation, depending the way in which it’s employed. For the maturity of situations, groupthink has a more negative effect. Groupthink can beget opinions that are made to jump to conclusions and affect in a worse situation latterly on. This paper will explore the COVID- 19 epidemic and the government involvement within the opinions that have been made regarding it.
BHS 240 Topic 1 A Case of Groupthink
Event
The event that passed and is still passing is the COVID- 19 epidemic. COVID- 19 is a complaint that’s caused by the SARS- CoV- 2 contagion (World Health Organization, 2020) that developed in December of 2019. This complaint is contagious and is spread through contact with other people. Within this epidemic event, there have been government issues that have created conflict and point to signs of groupthink tendencies. It was stated that, “structure trust with the public should be a core theme of the government’s ongoing epidemic strategy, particularly as we look to ease lockdown restrictions”(Heneghan & Mahtani, 2020). With this being said, the government is led to produce opinions for the public to engage and partake in.
Unfortunately, the epidemic itself has caused contestation over effects similar as colorful authorizations and vaccines. With this, the perpetration of these authorizations stem from government officers and their choices to apply them. Together with wisdom, the government’s opinions have caused the question of beginning to form a groupthink nature.
BHS 240 Topic 1 A Case of Groupthink
Explanation of Groupthink in The Event
The epidemic is an illustration of groupthink due to the involvement that the government has in authorizations. It was said that, “The crucial issue the authors linked was that groupthink led to misapprehensions of the substantiation, and failed to question hypotheticals; and voices that opposed were silenced, barred or denied entry.”(Coker, 2020). The substantiation in which officers were gaining came from a scientific perspective. The way in which government officers made their choices were grounded on scientific exploration and leads that guided them in the way they would apply certain effects. For illustration, mask authorizations came about as well as vaccines.
The government demanded to address the population as a whole, making opinions that feel to fit their stylish judgment. The effect of groupthink can be seen as this epidemic was commodity sprung upon society. There were choices that demanded to be made snappily and effectively, thus the government in their position was the head of this. With the pressure of making these important opinions, groupthink can be seen when a favored action is in place and due to quick responses, will stamp individual thinking.
BHS 240 Topic 1 A Case of Groupthink
Effect of Groupthink
The goods of groupthink on the COVID- 19 epidemic is negative. When it comes to the government in general, they’re a tight unit. The government creates and enforces rules regarding the frugality, public services, defense, and foreign affairs. Naturally with this, there’s pressure and delicate opinions demanded to be made. It was mentioned that, “In a cohesive group, members chorus from speaking out against opinions, avoid arguing with others, and strive to maintain friendly, cordial relations at all costs ”( Forsyth, 2019). This can be applied to the government opinions within creating mask authorizations, trip bans, vaccine conditions, all related to the COVID- 19 epidemic. With this, the public has responded in multiple ways. People don’t completely understand why certain opinions are being made, there’s a question of why one would have to follow similar authorizations, and overall drive- reverse that the epidemic isn’t real for some.
The quotation above also mentioned relations, and within the government there’s scale. The scale itself has divisions that make the people separate, and the relations between them beget boundaries. The boundaries may not be crossed, and with the quick opinions that are being made, it’s easier to reply in a groupthink system than not. The cohesiveness overall causes the effect of groupthink to take place and the opinions that continue to be made will be affected by this as well. As the flicks Media Group would say, “If you want to stay safe, stay with the herd”( 2015).
References
Coker,R.( 2020). Coronavirus can only be beaten if groups similar as savant are transparent and responsible. The Guardian.
https//www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/27/coronavirus-sage-scientific-groupthink
Films Media Group.( 2015). Peer Pressure Brain Games( Season 5)( videotape). Flicks On Demand.
https// fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96349&xtid=94763.
Forsyth ,D.R.( 2019). preface to Group Dynamics. Group Dynamics(pp. 399- 400).
https//bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/9781337671088/pdf2htmlex/index.html#page_Cover
Heneghan,S., & Mahtani,K.R.( 2020). Leadership in covid- 19 erecting public trust is key. The BMJ.
https//blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/05/05/leadership-in-covid-19-building-public-trust-is-key/
World Health Organization.( 2020). Coronavirus.
https//www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1
