Group Think

Speak Up… or Shut Up?

This season of the popular reality show “The Biggest Loser” exemplifies both good and bad sides of Group Think. One week a group of three had to decide how to win a competition. Each team had to hold the weight they had lost over a tank of water. All three of them would have to work together to hold as long as they could. The winning team earned video chats with their family. A group leader emerged and encouraged the other two in sticking it out to the end. David Myers (2010) cites an African Proverb “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The group would have lost quickly if they were each working individually, but to go the distance, the group had to work together to endure. “…given open leadership, a cohesive team spirit can improve decisions” (Myers, 2010 p 295).

In another instance, a group of two had another challenge to overcome. They were off the Biggest Loser Ranch for a week and given the opportunity to decide what tools they might need to lose the most at the weigh in after being off location. They had to choose if they were shopping and cooking for themselves or having meals prepared; if they were going to talk to their families or work out with their trainer; if they were going to have a spa day and dinner out or if they would work out in the gym on their own. The two of them needed to agree and they spent time discussing the decisions. If they were unsuccessful in losing more weight than those left at the Ranch for the week, one of them would be going home.

The group of two became closed minded and as a result lost one of the group members lost and had to go home that week. Both members of the group struggled with some of Myer’s explanations like, “Rationalization. The groups discount challenges by collectively justifying their decisions” (2010 p 292). The group rationalized that they had been on the ranch for 13 weeks and should know what they needed to do without help. This rationalization lead to “Self-censorship. Since disagreements were often uncomfortable and the groups seemed in consensus, members withheld or discounted their misgivings” (Myers, 2010 p 293). And the “Illusion of unanimity. Self-censorship and pressure not the puncture the consensus create an illusion of unanimity” (Myers, 2010 p 293).  In hindsight the remaining group member recognized the tendency to succumb to group think to avoid confrontation.

Abraham Maslow hit on the idea of group think in his theory of the hierarchy of needs; with one of the need level being Belongingness. “Maslow’s proposed need for belongingness can only be satisfied through association with, and more important, acceptance by other people” (Schultz & Schultz, 2009).  Because we need to belong to a group it may be a natural progression for up to move into group think mindset. In the right situation with the right leader and followers, group think can be a positive experience. It seems that very often group think is detrimental to a positive outcome.

Reference

The Biggest Loser, NBC Reality Television Show. Aired March 22, 29, 2011

Myers, D. (2010) Social Psychology (10^th ed.) McGraw-Hill. New York, New York.

Schultz, D. & Schultz, S.(2009). Theories of Personality (9^th ed.) Wadsorth. Belmont, CA