IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v30y1986i3p497-531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Victims of Groupthink

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas R. Hensley
  • Glen W. Griffin

    (Department of Political Science, Kent State University)

Abstract

An important theory in the study of small group decision making is groupthink, developed by Irving Janis. Groupthink refers to a process by which a small group of decision makers subjected to intense stress may become more concerned with achieving concurrence among their members than in arriving at carefully considered decisions. In this study, Janis's theory is applied to the 1977 gymnasium controversy at Kent State University where trustees decided to build an addition to the school's gymnasium on part of the area where students and Ohio National Guard members confronted each other just before the tragic shootings of May 4, 1970. Despite opposition from the student body and faculty, large-scale protest activities, massive arrests, and numerous third party efforts to resolve the conflict, the trustees not only refused to alter their decision but also refused even to reconsider their decision. A detailed analysis of Janis's theory reveals that each major condition of the theory was present in the conflict and that the trustees were indeed victims of groupthink.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas R. Hensley & Glen W. Griffin, 1986. "Victims of Groupthink," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(3), pages 497-531, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:30:y:1986:i:3:p:497-531
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002786030003006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002786030003006
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002786030003006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:30:y:1986:i:3:p:497-531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.