11.4.1.3 Pressures towards uniformity

The third group consists of four symptoms: self-censorship, unanimity, pressure and mindguards. Self-censorship entails the inclination not to raise objections against group consensus and even to trivialise one’s dissenting opinion and the importance of it to oneself. An example given by Janis is the Bay of Pigs invasion plan. One of the members – Arthur Schlesinger Jr. – had strong objections and wrote them down in a memorandum to the President, but he kept silent during the discussions about the final decision. Later he admitted: ‘I can only explain my failure to do more than raise a few timid questions by reporting that one’s impulse to blow the whistle on this nonsense was simply undone by the circumstances of the discussion’ (Janis 1971: 74). The second symptom of pressure towards uniformity is unanimity. Unanimity is closely related to self-censorship; it entails the illusion of unanimity of the group by its members. Due to self-censorship, proponents are more likely to speak during meetings than opponents. This creates the belief by the group that the decision has been made unanimously, because silence is considered to be a sign of consent. When decision-making is based on consensus, group members tend to stop thinking critically. Once unanimity is broken, the members do not feel confident with the consensus solution and are likely to feel freer to disclose their dissenting opinions.

The third symptom is pressure. When a member of the group is likely to be against the desired proposal, pressure is put on this member by stating that his behaviour is disloyal to the other members or the group. The pressure is mostly subtle, as is apparent from an example from the war in Vietnam. Bill Moyers was one of the members of the ingroup of President Johnson. He started to express some doubts about the bombing plans. When he arrived at the White House, the President greeted him with: ‘Well, here comes Mr. Stop-the-Bombing’ (Janis 1971: 74). Such pressure makes somebody feel uncomfortable and reluctant to express his doubts. The last symptom of pressure towards uniformity is mindguards. Mindguards are people within the group that protect the other members against information that might ‘shatter their shared complacency about the effectiveness and morality of their decisions’ (Janis 1982: 185). An example from the Bay of Pigs invasion is the behaviour of Robert Kennedy who asked Schlesinger why he was against the plan. He added: ‘You may be right or you may be wrong, but the President has made his mind up. Don’t push it any further. Now is the time for everyone to help him all they can’ (Janis 1971: 74).