Psychology Essay: Social Influence.

What material from the "Social Influence Effects" will you use in your own life? How?

Personally, I have very often wondered what leads people to fall victim to conformity and compliance - particularly, with groupthinking [i.e., group pressure], so I found this section of the material particularly interesting.

Here are the eight symptoms of "Groupthink", as defined by social psychologist Irving Janis:

• An illusion of invulnerability, which results in excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.

• Collective rationalization in which group members disregard warnings and do not challenge their own assumptions.

• A belief in inherent morality that leads members to believe in the rightness of their cause and ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.

•The presence of stereotyped views of out-groups, or negative views of people who are outside the group, making effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.

• Evidence of direct pressure on dissenters, such as when members are under pressure not to express arguments against the group’s views.

• A sense of self-censorship in which individual members do not express doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus.

• An illusion of unanimity, in which the majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.

• The presence of self-appointed “mindguards,” or members who protect the group and it's leaders from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

Groupthink can be prevented when leaders actively solicit various opinions and expert assessments and when people are assigned to conduct risk assessment. Soliciting the opinions, ideas, and perspectives of people outside the group increases the likelihood of a neutral assessment.

Personally, especially in regards to stating an opinion on what I consider to be a matter of importance, I need time to consider the issue alone, maybe even writing down what I think or feel on the matter, and possibly ideas about a solution. I'm very aware of and sensitive to how powerful this really is, and especially in the past few years of my life, I've made it a point to not fall victim to it; I don't want to ever be responsible for making a faulty decision; lose my mental efficiency; sense of reality; my moral judgment; self-identity, as a result of group pressure.