life on planet earth on Groupthink

To be sure, groups, when they are functioning well, can be among our best defenses against vicious self-deception. But when group thinking is replaced by what psychologists call “groupthink,” results ...

Doubts are suppressed by groups... But remember that the internal incentives that shape how the group perceives risks and rewards may be very different from the reality of the risks and rewards in the...

As people seek out the social settings they prefer—as they choose the group that makes them feel the most comfortable—the nation grows more politically segregated—and the benefit that ought to come wi...

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

In His book When Narcissism Comes to Church, Chuck DeGroat shares about a unique phenomenon that occurs in organizations: Collective Narcissism: Churches are particularly susceptible to a phenomenon...

People bind themselves into political teams that share moral narratives. Once they accept a particular narrative, they become blind to alternative moral worlds.

In his book The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, former president of the University of Southern California Steven Sample, details a critical element leaders must possess if they wish to make sound ju...

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.

As people seek out the social settings they prefer—as they choose the group that makes them feel the most comfortable—the nation grows more politically segregated—and the benefit that ought to come wi...

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).

“The assumption that everyone else is like you. That you are the world. The disease of consumer capitalism. The complacent solipsism.”

A large part of the problem is that we’ve lost much of our ability to think deeply. We’ve forgotten the art of deep and focused mind-management. We want things fast, quick, now. We often don’t want to...

Nothing is ever done until everyone is convinced that it ought to be done, and has been convinced for so long that it is now time to do something else.

Once an idea has taken hold of the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate.

In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society const...

Social media may appear to empower individual voices, but it’s really the crowd’s mass attention or indifference that determines which voices are seen, heard or ignored. The age of spectacles is the a...

Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness.

“All thinking men are atheists.”

Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.

You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

Everybody believes that their reality is the real real reality.

We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

We all want to feel like we come together as equals, with each of us bringing something unique and vital to the table. That’s how friendship works: we join forces, knowing each of us has something to ...

We are taught, often by the tone of voice of the media and the politicians rather than by explicit argument, to bow down before…progress. It is unstoppable. Who wants to be left behind, to be behind t...

It is always crucial to remember that our beliefs are formed not only through reason and argument but also through social conditioning.

Culture shapes the way we order our life, interpret our experiences, and evaluate the behavior of other people.

Never about, always to.

When Freud says…that consciousness is the tip of the mental iceberg, he was short of the mark by quite a bit-it may be more the size of a snowball on top of that iceberg. The mind operates most effici...