Group Think

In my foreign policy class, we learned about the phenomenon "group think." People have a tendency to side with the majority, especially if their boss is included in that majority, even if they see things a completely different way. No one really wants to be the dissenting voice among a group of those who agree upon something. We discussed this when talking about the implementation of the surge in Iraq. It would seem that a lot of top advisors, despite later claims of disapproval, went along with the pack when deciding to increase the troop levels. The purpose of this post isn't to criticize or commend the surge, but just to focus on the effect that the group mentality can have even on a very large scale. I think it is pretty interesting that people at the top of the nation were susceptible to this, and kept their mouths shut on what they really thought just to fit into the group. I guess job security and staying on the boss's good side is a common motivation even at such a high level.