Dear Room 229- Last Blog (10)

We have spent the last semester exploring all facets of interpersonal communication together.  Now it's your turn to offer some advice on the subject.  Life's many complexities leaves many scars. The fear of rejection and commitment is a common scar left after the ending of a meaningful relationship. It can leave one emotionally immobilized, stagnated, depressed and lead to self-destructive, self-defeating irrational behaviors, and regression. Share with us, how you think one can learn to overcome their fear of commitment and rejection and be open again to engage in current and future relationships.

Gang Affiliation

This is one of the more detrimental examples. Especially when you are growing up in households that offer no means of stability, identity, safety, or inclusion. Usually young boys, of similar situations will bond together and create synthetic versions of these missing elements. Because these children have no real experience or guidelines for creating their rules and the discipline to follow them, usually an outsider is seen as a threat. Also, because boundaries are never established and because the pecking order changes constantly, those outsiders are usually treated with the maturity of pissed off teenagers. I guess that's kind of the only group think I had experience with.

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.

Groupthink: Homeschool

My example is a first hand observation. As some of you know, I was home schooled from 7th grade until the end of high school. I participated in a home school group that would have activities for home schooled children and teens. Some of these kids fit the typical home schooled stereo type. They were very sheltered and had limited social skills. I think this can be attributed to a type of groupthink. The parents keep their family in a tight group, instill their values, and don't expose their children to anything else often.

To avoid groupthink people should make sure their exposed to different social experiences. Make new friends.. become acculturated basically. Don't hang out with the same group of friends over and over.. go out with different people. Learn about different perspectives. Be an individual. Make up your own mind.

Cheers,

Audrey

Groupthink vs. What you think?

Hitler and his Nazi regime is a good example of Groupthink in a extreme way. The reason this is a good example is because he promised the German people that he could help them reach the best possible way out of their crisis. It wasn't long after he was voted into office he started his regime. He took advantage of his people's weak state of mind to abused his power turning the German nation from a democratic nation to something smiler to a dictatorship. Having this power he wanted to wipe out every citizen who wasn't blond haired and blue eyed and started to kill off millions of Jewish people. This situation relates to Groupthink is because he influenced all the people in the nation to believe in his ideals.

As human beings I don't really think that it is possible to avoid Groupthink all together because we trust in one person to represent the whole nation (i.e. our congressmen). One way to avoid Groupthink all together is to not put yourself in a position where Groupthink is happening. However, I know that not putting yourself in that position of Groupthink is easier said then done, but I think that some Groupthink is healthy for every individual. Although some group is healthy for every individual, the only thing I can think of is to not put yourself in a bad position of Groupthink.

ARE 3 HEADS REALLY BETTER THAN 1? Blog 9

In the movie we are watching in class "Failure to Launch", Trip and his buddies are in their mid 30s and all still live at home with their parents.  Some may argue that one of the reasons for their "failure to launch" is because of Groupthink.  The term Groupthink was coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972). It is when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”.  Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making. It is like peer pressure on steriods.

Share another example of Groupthink in action that you know from history, personal experience or observation. Because we are social beings, we are all prone to Groupthink. What might we do to prevent becoming prey to the power of Groupthink?

Diverrsity in my workplace...

I work in the Peer Educator office, and we have two unique indivuidals working with us in our office.
The two are always bumping heads because the differences between them two are by a very wide margin. One of the two is from Jamaica and the other is from the Kansas City. There are many differences between them, but for this situation I will be concentrating on tone of voice and differences in value and eitquette.
The one from Jamaica is real religious, and the other one from Kansas City is religious but he does not take it as seriously as the other one does.
They're both very out-spoken and likes to voice his oppinion a lot. When the two hear something they disagree with, it tends to piss off the other person. Heated discussions are started, and it eventually leads them not to talk to one another and it forces us their co-workers to choice sides.
She kind of bothers everyone around her, but we have to learn to ignore her comments.