Irving Janis
Born: May 26, 1918
Died: November 15, 1990
Ø Came up with the study Group Think, which is based on group decision-making.
Ø Group Think: when members of a group begin to think a like instead of looking at all possible solutions to a problem. The members of the group change their minds to agree with the dominant member of the group (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
Ø He was a Yale University psychology professor, and later was an adjunct professor at the University of California (nytimes.com).
Ø Some of his books include: “Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policy Making and Crisis Management” (The Free Press, 1989), “Groupthink” (Houghton, Mifflin, 1983), and “Decsision Making: A Psychological Analysis of Conflict, Choice and Commitment” (The Free Press, 1977), written with Leon Mann (nytimes.com).
Ø Has been rewarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association in 1981, and also the Distinguished Scientist Award for 1991 of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.
Ø To view an achieved chapter from A First Look at Communication Theory on Group Think click here
