Psychologyspeaking topic
Groupthink: why does a harmonious group accept bad decisions without criticism? In a room where everyone stays silent to avoid being the dissenter, how does the truth get lost?
— Irving Janis, groupthink theory
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Decision fatigue: the more small decisions we make through the day, the more our willpower drains, and the worse our evening choices get. Is it a coincidence that judges hand down more rejections in the late afternoon?
- Affective forecasting: why do we overestimate how happy something will make us once we get it? When we finally reach what we wanted, why does the expected joy fade so quickly?
- Status quo bias: why do we say 'leave it as it is' even when change would be better? Not choosing is also a choice, so why do we mistake standing still for safety?
- Even when you read silently, the speech muscles twitch faintly; reading 'in your head' is whisperless speech. If the mouth is thinking along even in total silence, how pure can thought ever be, and how independent of language?
- Children raised in languages that ask 'how did it break?' rather than 'did you break it?' focus on what happened instead of who did it, and remember the culprit less. Language quietly tunes who we hold responsible. Is our sense of justice fed by grammar?