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How To Overcome Groupthink


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Thinking out of the box and having breakthroughs is of immense importance in all aspects of life. 

Be it studies, creating songs, or art pieces, being able to look past the generic ideas and coming up with unique perspectives is vital to make yourself stand out.  Not only is it important to be different from the crowd, but it is also essential to stay away from groupthink. 

It is a phenomenon in which people indulge in irrational and dysfunctional decision-making because of the innate need for harmony. This constant agreement and need for approval in a group can hamper people’s objectivity and lead to disasters. 

That’s why it is important to critically evaluate the decisions instead of being cohesive all the time. Here are a few ways to overcome the problem of groupthink:

#1 Divide into smaller groups: while doing any group project, break your team into further smaller groups and undertake the same topics. In this way, you’ll be able to think more openly and come up with fresh perspectives and ideas without needing to yessir your way out of things.

#2 Be individualistic: it’s crucial to be assertive about your thoughts and choices to present them confidently. Stay true to your opinions as long as they don’t harm others and firmly keep them on the table without fretting over others’ points of view. 

Also, don’t try to adopt someone else’s perspectives. We often do that without realizing it, so make it a rule to be mindful of such behavior. 

#3 Critical evaluation: whenever you are presented with an idea, try to look into it as deeply as possible and avoid passing judgments based on the individual who came up with it. While listening to someone we admire, it’s more likely to be biased towards them and rationalize whatever they say. 

I believe that appointing a “critical evaluator” while performing tasks is a great way to prevent group thinking. Moreover, be objective and neutral, and decide on the best possible outcome irrelevant of who pitched in the idea. 

The whole point of group activities is to create a pool of different ideas from different individuals to improve the quality of the decision. Rest assured, you’ll be better off sticking to it.

#4 Invite experts: if you are stuck in a rut of groupthink, invite an expert with a strong individualistic personality as a mediator. This will help you break the monotony and conformity. 

At some point we have a lot of us have fallen victim to group think. What are the steps you took to overcome it? 

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The easiest way to avoid this is to surround yourself with people who will challenge you. Get off places like Twitter and Facebook who only encourage this hive-mind culture and way of thinking and return to the real world. Allow people who don't agree with you to ask you questions and ask them questions back. We need to get to a place where we can discuss things again or this country will never heal. 

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21 hours ago, Sophia said:

The easiest way to avoid this is to surround yourself with people who will challenge you. Get off places like Twitter and Facebook who only encourage this hive-mind culture and way of thinking and return to the real world. Allow people who don't agree with you to ask you questions and ask them questions back. We need to get to a place where we can discuss things again or this country will never heal. 

Agree 100%. It is easy to get trapped in this, especially on social media. Best to stick to smaller more controlled social groups like on forums so you don't run into issues with people. Nothing wrong with having things in common with your friends but it hinders your growth if you are all the same person!

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On 9/26/2021 at 9:15 PM, Scarlett said:

Did you know that Twitter's algorithm is designed this way? It is designed to keep people in separate boxes which actually hurts communication and understanding. They make money off of users so they don't care. 

What do you mean it is designed this way? Like it actually functions to divide people and ensure they only see the same kind of content that works with their own views on things? I mean we see this in the news. A lot of news outlets are very politically biased thought I can only think of two that are on the right, the rest seem to be on the left.

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