Dictionary

groupthink en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɹuːpθɪŋk/ (UK)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A process of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially one characterized by uncritical acceptance of or conformity to a perceived majority view.
   • 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. 1973 May 28, Irving L. Janis, “Groupthink in Washington”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2021:
   • 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. 2011, Mark Briggs, Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What's Next for News, CQ Press, →ISBN, page 129:
   • This gang-bang speaks more to journalistic groupthink than to any real moral or legal reasoning. 2005 July 12, Jacob Weisberg, “The Anonymity Trap”, in Slate, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2021:
   • A militant group-think seized hold of the ministry. 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 395:

Forms

Deriveds

groupthinker

Relateds

echo chamber

Synonyms

group-thinking · herdthink

Translations (18)

hu csoportgondolkodás (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · fr pensée de groupe (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · fi laumasieluisuus (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · nb gruppetenking (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · de Gruppendenken (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · pt pensamento de grupo (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · pl myślenie grupowe (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · ru группово́е мышле́ние (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · sv grupptänkande (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · sv grupptänk (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · ca pensament de grup (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · gl pensamento de grupo (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · it pensiero di gruppo (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · es pensamiento de grupo (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · nn gruppetenking (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · cmn 群体思维 (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · nb gruppetenkning (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view) · uk групове́ ми́слення (tendency of a group to conform to the majority view)