Groupthink

One main Groupthink situation I can think of is the History of a lot of religious sects, most notably Christianity and its adherents. It has a history of having a huge following and one of the main reasons of that was because they were not allowed to believe in other gods or no gods. You would be put on trial for heresy if you were atheist or had different views and/or ideas. For example, Galileo was charged with heresy for supporting heliocentric views which led to him being put under house arrest. Another example is Socrates. He was killed for being suspected in teaching people of gods different from that of the state. He claimed he believed in the same ones and stated his point but was still charged with heresy which led to his execution. In these era's people were basically forced to think or believe (or act to think or believe) in the same thing as the rest of the state or country. In order to prevent leading to Groupthink situations I believe you need people to be independent and sturdy. They need to have a mind that isn't completely passive and can actually think for its self and not let others think for it. They need to be able to come up with their own ideas.