PT125.S1.P4.Q27

PrepTest 125 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 27

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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.
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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
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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
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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
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27.

Based on the passage, it ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

a

Highly cohesive groups ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████████ ███████████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ █████████

Not supported, because the author doesn’t discuss how groups interact with adversaries (people outside the group). She only discusses how group members interact with other group members.

18%
b

It is difficult ███ █ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ █ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████████

Supported, because the author states in general, greater cohesion leads to less likelihood that group members will deliberately censor what they say. So, in order for people to feel free enough to disagree, there needs to be a fairly high level of cohesion. Without a fairly high level of cohesion, there won’t be as much disagreement and criticism. It’s reasonable to think that with less disagreement and criticism, the more difficult it is for a group to examine all options.

40%
c

A group with ██████ ██████████ ██ █ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █ █████ ████████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████

Not supported, because disagreement about a particular issue can be something that contributes to better decisionmaking. If group members disagree about an issue, that can indicate that members feel free to criticize and don’t merely go along with others out of fear.

16%
d

Intense stress and ████ ████████████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████

Not supported, because the author never discusses stress or expectations.

11%
e

Noncohesive groups can, █████ ███████ ██████████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████

Not supported, because the author never indicates that noncohesive groups might develop groupthink symptoms. She indicates that high cohesion isn’t sufficient for groupthink, but this doesn’t imply that a group with no cohesion might exhibit symptoms of groupthink.

15%

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