The concept of group communication, especially with regards to groupthink, kind of intrigues me. As defined by Irving Janis (1972), groupthink is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.
An example of this phenomenon, which basically says that people will blindly comform to a group's principles in order to stay in it, regardless of personal beliefs, can be seen in this clip, taken from the 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket.
Brief summary of the story so far: The first part of the film centres around a bunch on fresh recruits undergoing Marine training, sometime before the Vietnam War. Main focus is on two recruits: Pvt. "Pyle", who is an overweight, blundering and slightly off trainee who has gotten his fellow trainees in trouble more than once due to his inability to take command, and Pvt. "Joker", his buddy. The platoon has decided that they have had enough of Pyle getting them into trouble, and, led by Pvt. "Cowboy", give him a blanket party, something Joker is hesitant about.
Joker can be clearly seen here to be exhibiting groupthink, as he is hesitant on beating Pyle, but does so eventually under pressure from Cowboy. His is the only obvious example here, but when it comes to such an extreme action that won't sit well with some people, and considering that there are so many other nonviolent alternatives, seeing everyone else in the platoon joining in probably means that at least some of the others exhibit groupthink as well, although not so outwardly.
Looking at the symptoms of groupthink:
Illusion of invulnerability: the platoon believes strongly that they are better than Pyle that they feel justified in their actions.
Belief in the group's own morality: Joker makes the decision that his beliefs are not as important to him as those of everyone else as a collective, and so in the interest of being with the group, he forgoes his own hesitations.
Shared stereotypes: the platoon believes that Pyle, in a sense opposing the groups by not obeying orders, stereotype him as a deviant deserving the beating and fail to recognize that Pyle might be slower than normal (which can be clearly seen throughout the first half of the movie).
Collective rationalization: continuing a certain action despite contrary information. In this case, Joker obviously can see that Pyle is in pain, but because of groupthink, continues with the beating anyway.
Self-censorship: Joker, for a moment, wants to voice his disapproval, but instead chooses to keep quiet upon pressure from Cowboy.
Illusion of unanimity: the entire platoon is unanimous in their participation in the blanket party, despite at leasy one of them not agreeing with it. However, because everyone thinks that everyone is agreeable to it, the rest hop on board anyway.
Pressure on dissenters: nobody voices out their dissent here, but Joker comes close to doing so. Cowboy recognizes that Joker is hesitant and might refuse to take part, and pressues him into doing it.
Mind-guards: self-created protection from dissenting outside information. Here, in the isolated environment of Parris Island, where the Senior Drill Instructor is the law, his absence creates an atmosphere of lawlessness here, and thus they choose to carry out things as they see fit and ignore any rational argument.
However, is groupthink that powerful? By this argument, can it influence people to commit more henious acts, like murder, or is there a limit where a person draws the line?
An example of this phenomenon, which basically says that people will blindly comform to a group's principles in order to stay in it, regardless of personal beliefs, can be seen in this clip, taken from the 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket.
Brief summary of the story so far: The first part of the film centres around a bunch on fresh recruits undergoing Marine training, sometime before the Vietnam War. Main focus is on two recruits: Pvt. "Pyle", who is an overweight, blundering and slightly off trainee who has gotten his fellow trainees in trouble more than once due to his inability to take command, and Pvt. "Joker", his buddy. The platoon has decided that they have had enough of Pyle getting them into trouble, and, led by Pvt. "Cowboy", give him a blanket party, something Joker is hesitant about.
Joker can be clearly seen here to be exhibiting groupthink, as he is hesitant on beating Pyle, but does so eventually under pressure from Cowboy. His is the only obvious example here, but when it comes to such an extreme action that won't sit well with some people, and considering that there are so many other nonviolent alternatives, seeing everyone else in the platoon joining in probably means that at least some of the others exhibit groupthink as well, although not so outwardly.
Looking at the symptoms of groupthink:
Illusion of invulnerability: the platoon believes strongly that they are better than Pyle that they feel justified in their actions.
Belief in the group's own morality: Joker makes the decision that his beliefs are not as important to him as those of everyone else as a collective, and so in the interest of being with the group, he forgoes his own hesitations.
Shared stereotypes: the platoon believes that Pyle, in a sense opposing the groups by not obeying orders, stereotype him as a deviant deserving the beating and fail to recognize that Pyle might be slower than normal (which can be clearly seen throughout the first half of the movie).
Collective rationalization: continuing a certain action despite contrary information. In this case, Joker obviously can see that Pyle is in pain, but because of groupthink, continues with the beating anyway.
Self-censorship: Joker, for a moment, wants to voice his disapproval, but instead chooses to keep quiet upon pressure from Cowboy.
Illusion of unanimity: the entire platoon is unanimous in their participation in the blanket party, despite at leasy one of them not agreeing with it. However, because everyone thinks that everyone is agreeable to it, the rest hop on board anyway.
Pressure on dissenters: nobody voices out their dissent here, but Joker comes close to doing so. Cowboy recognizes that Joker is hesitant and might refuse to take part, and pressues him into doing it.
Mind-guards: self-created protection from dissenting outside information. Here, in the isolated environment of Parris Island, where the Senior Drill Instructor is the law, his absence creates an atmosphere of lawlessness here, and thus they choose to carry out things as they see fit and ignore any rational argument.
However, is groupthink that powerful? By this argument, can it influence people to commit more henious acts, like murder, or is there a limit where a person draws the line?
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Chander... You haven't been commenting on my blog yes?? Didn't you say COM101 students must help one another in your 'Greetings'? yes?? haha you gonna be blanket partied soon man...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on a serious note, this was a VERY good, short, crisp clip on how people conform to groupthink. Look, it was military, and there were MANY of them in that bunk. I was caught in that situation one time in my Navy days. while i didn't participate, neither did I stop them. It seemed, at that point in time, too difficult and 'uncool' to stop a bunch of soldiers bent on blanket partying some chap.
On the lighter side, I checked the comments on YouTube, and was rather surprised to see that there were raging comments posted. Was I the only one that thought it was funny? I mean c'mon, "only a bad dream, fat boy"? How classic! then they scooted off, like it really was just a dream. Man, that's looney tunes brought to life, if you will. Perhaps, only those that been through military would see the lighter side of it? Seriously, there are FAR nastier things camp mates could do if they were really angry. This one just went physical on Pyle. Think about the backstabbing and duty-pushing, blame-pushing, arrow-shooting, things that could be worse. Still, Pyle had it quite bad, I think.
i think groupthink is very powerful, espcially with teenagers nowadays.
ReplyDeletethe peer pressure that comes from people around us will slowly entice us to do something against our will, but it might seem like the right thing to do with your so-called 'friends'.
however, that being said, with henious crimes like murder or rape, i still believe that everyone will have the limit that they set and not do things that are wrong, no matter how strong the peer pressure is.
groupthink gives limited invulnerability and the idea of a strong fort.
ReplyDeletehowever, a simple devil's advocate would quickly crumble their defences.
most gang members alawys believe in unity and hence always try to influence their members to commit crimes to feel like they belong in a group (idiosyncratic credit) but the law will always follow up on them
isaac
http://pitstophere.wordpress.com
There is definitely a stronger form of groupthink, man. Its called brainwashin. Heard of it lately? Our troops are usin it in iraq to convert the terrorists so we can find bin laden and blow that mofo to hell where he belongs. Its wat the nazis did to their prisoners, and now we is usin it for good
ReplyDeleteWhat is this conspirator babbling about, Russ? Any idea who this nutjob is? Groupthink is nothing like brainwashing. It's a normal and sometimes counterproductive effect of being in a group. Brainwashing is a totally different type of influence, one that forces people to believe things beyond their will.
ReplyDeleteheh for once i agree with jimmy. this guys a psycho lol. anyway groupthink can be influential, but everyone still his his own set of values, and as long as behaving according to the group means their core vales arent harmed, then anything else goes. stuff like killing is a big deal so that wont be happening i think.
ReplyDeletedamn nonbelievers. you watch out. you think the world is full of honeys and teddy bears and candy floss and dasies but its not ok? youll see. when we find that turban head fuck youll be thanking us.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea who you are, Anonymous, but if I didn't need all the comments I can get, I would be moderating you out. You're entitled to your own opinion, but don't push it on others. And keep the profanities out of this, my instructor's going to see this.
ReplyDeleteDamn, Russ, you're that desperate for comments? Haha, I'll call some more friends to help.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I just realise that I didn't address the issue. Groupthink is more dangerous than you think. There was that incident with the People's church and that mass suicide, hundreds drank the cyanide kool aid and even gave it to their parents and kids. Not all of these people wanted to die, but they were pressured and convinced to. That's pretty strong evidence for the effects of group influence I think.
Yeah, I remember we did something like this to a bunk mate in BMT, but it wasn't this serious. I understand the context of this scene, cuz I've seen this movie before.
ReplyDeleteRocknstone, it's not funny at all. Pyle was a trainee blacklisted by Hartman, the senior drill instructor, since day one. He was a bit slow, but never got proper attention, and people just treated him like he was stupid and lazy. He constantly got picked on rater severely by Hartman, who focused on him because he was unfit and learned really slowly. One day, h got his whole platoon in trouble because he sneaked a jelly doughnut into the bunk and everyone else got punished for it. That resulted in the blanket party. After that incident, Pyle became withdrawn and started having morbid thoughts. On their last day on the island, Pyle finally snapped, stole live ammo and shot Hartman and nearly Joker, but instead blew his own head off.
It's not funny at all.
still funny how at the end of it all he says is ow. and think about this brainwashing thing for a sec. youre being convinced into doing something you wouldnt normally do and its suddenly become a normal thing for you to do. how is that not brainwashing?
ReplyDeleteI normally couldn't be bothered with the likes of you, Anonymous, but seeing as how Russ needs comments anyway...
ReplyDeleteGroupthink, like how it was defined above, is a "mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." Brainwashing is a psychological tactic designed to subvert a subject's control over his mind.
Essentially, in groupthink, people choose to conform to the group for fear of being ostracized or fear of negative reactions and perceptions of the group. They choose to conform, if in a begrudging "I have no choice" kind of way, but their choice nonetheless. Brainwashing is totally out of a person's control. You take a person, twist his will, and ultimately where he doesn't agree with you he does now.