In 1972, Irving Janis invented the psychological term ‘Groupthink’ which refers to the phenomena of concurring and conforming to the group to reach an undivided decision overrides the realistic appraisal of the alternatives (Janis, 1972). According to Janis, Groupthink is a result of cohesiveness in groups (Lewin, 1930) and an important factor to consider in decision processes such as workshops, meetings, conferences, committees etc.
Groups involved in groupthink often do not consider all alternatives and instead prefer to reach a unanimous decision thus compromising the quality of decision. It affects the mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgements due to pressures of seeking concurrence from the group.
Cohesiveness in the group:
The concept of groupthink is based on the assumption that strong group cohesion is likely to provoke group-thinking. This is the first antecedent of the concept of groupthink. In addition to that, two other primary antecedent conditions which are vital for the development of groupthink in terms of group characteristics are:
The leader’s preference for a certain decision:
This antecedent condition refers to the lack of a leader who is impartial and there is only directive leadership. There is also a lack of group norms which favour procedural, method-based and homogeneous member attitude, social backgrounds and ideology. This antecedent prevents and insulates group members from certain information which the leader does not want to share with them. This antecedent particularly causes structural faults in the group.
Insulation of group from qualified outside opinion:
This is the situational antecedent condition to groupthink. It includes highly stressful threats from the external environment and justifies the leader’s action to insulate the group from critics. Highly complex and excessively difficult decision making as well as recent failures may lead to low self esteem of the group members. Lastly, moral dilemmas following the group members may also become the antecedent of group-thinking.
1972，欧文詹尼斯发明心理学术语“群体思维”指的是一致的，符合集团达成一个不可分割的决定重写的替代品的实际评估的现象（贾尼斯，1972）。据贾尼斯，群体思维的结果是凝聚力组（勒温，1930），考虑在决策过程的一个重要因素如研讨会，会议，会议，委员会等。
参与集体决策群体往往不考虑所有的选择，而不是要达成一致决定，从而影响决策质量。它会影响心理效率，由于寻求从组并发压力测试和道德判断的现实。
在团队凝聚力：
集体思维的概念是基于的假设是强大的群体凝聚力可能引发群体思维。这是对群体思维概念的第一前提。除此之外，其他两个主要的前提条件，这是至关重要的在群特点，群体思维的发展：
领导者的偏好某种决策：
这个前提条件是指一个领袖谁是公正的缺乏，只有指导型领导。还有一个缺乏群体规范有利于程序，方法和均匀的成员的态度，社会背景和思想。这个前期预防和隔离组成员从某些信息，领导不想与他们分享。这个前特别是在集团造成结构断裂。
集团从绝缘合格的外部意见：
这是情境因素条件1.。它包括从外部环境高度紧张的威胁是领导行为隔离组的批评家。高度复杂的和过分艰难的决策以及最近的失败可能会导致低自尊组的成员。最后，道德困境后，小组成员也可以成为群体思维的影响。
