groupthink

Definition

A process of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially one characterized by uncritical acceptance of or conformity to a perceived majority view.

Etymology

Coined by William H. Whyte in 1952, from group + think, modelled on earlier doublethink from Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Example Sentences

• "At present we do not know what percentage of all national fiascoes are attributable to groupthink. Some decisions of poor quality that turn out to be fiascoes might be ascribed primarily to mistakes made by just one man, the Chief Executive. Others arise because of a faulty policy formulated by a group of executives whose decision‐making procedures were impaired by errors having little or nothing to do with groupthink."
• "This gang-bang speaks more to journalistic groupthink than to any real moral or legal reasoning."
• "Anyone who works for a news organization (or any large corporation, for that matter) can weave tales of woe around all the planning, brainstorming, off-site retreats and other groupthinks that led nowhere."