Self-study
P1
In principle, a cohesive group—one whose members generally agree with one another and support one another's judgments—can do a much better job at decision making than it could if it were noncohesive. ███
intro topic ·
Cohesive group can have better decision-making than non-cohesive group
Cohesive group = members generally agree with each other and support each other's judgments.
Causal mechanism ·
Group members more willing to say what they think
When cohesiveness is low, people are less willing to speak freely because of fear of social harm.
P2
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High cohesion can have risks ·
Can be less likely to deviate from majority opinion
Causal mechanism ·
Groupthink
Members of high-cohesion group may not scrutinize others' proposals. They'll either think the proposal is good without critical thinking, or they'll suppress any doubts for the benefit of group consensus.
P3
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Factors that can lead to groupthink ·
Overestimating group's power and morality, closed-mindedness, pressure toward uniformity
Requirement for groupthink ·
Cohesion in group is necessary, but not sufficient, for groupthink
Let's do some more research on other factors that can lead to groupthink.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
20.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Despite its value ██ ███████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ █ ████████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ███████████
This best captures the author’s point, which is that groupthink is a phenomenon that can negatively affect decision-making when they’re high cohesiveness. She expresses this point
b
Group members can █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ █ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████
Not supported, because the author never suggests that a group member’s awareness of cohesion and the role it plays in decisionmaking has any effect on the likelihood of groupthink occurring. Since (B) is not supported, it can’t be the main point.
c
Groupthink is a █████████████ ██████████ ███████████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████
Although the author notes that certain researchers believe groupthink was at play in certain diplomatic and military disasters, the point of the passage isn’t to emphasize groupthink’s occurrence in diplomacy and military affairs. Groupthink might occur in any group in which there is high cohesiveness. Diplomacy and military affairs are simply two examples where it might occur, but we have no reason to think it isn’t just as likely to occur in other contexts.
d
Low cohesion in ██████ ██ █████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ████████ █ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████
The author never suggests that low cohesion can be desirable due to the risk of cohesion. P1 describes the negative effects of low cohesion, and the author never suggests those effects are preferable to the effects of groupthink.
e
Future efforts to █████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███████
The author notes at the end that research is important for identifying other factors that determine whether high cohesion will produce groupthink. However, a comment about future research is too narrow to be the main point. The author’s discussion of groupthink is much broader. It encompasses the idea that high cohesion creates the conditions for groupthink, which (E) doesn’t express.