Groupthink

While surfing Wikipedia, I came across an interesting word -- Groupthink. According to Wikipedia, groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of thinking. A variety of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish, or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group. Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group’s balance.

This word is so interesting to me because as I look around, read the newspaper and rake my memory, I can list down so many instances of groupthink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink