11.4.1.2 Closed-mindedness

The second type consists of two symptoms: rationale and stereotypes. Rationale entails ‘collective efforts to rationalise in order to discount warnings or other information that might lead the members to reconsider their assumptions before they recommit themselves to their past policy decisions’ (Janis 1982: 174). An example of rationale appeared in the case study on the war in Vietnam. The policymakers expected that after six weeks of bombing in North Vietnam the resistance would be defeated and willing to start peace talks. After each setback, the policymakers persevered with their strategy and decided that just a little bit more effort would lead to the desired outcome. The setbacks were not seen as a sign of faulty strategy, and the group believed that their course of action was the right one. The second symptom of closed-mindedness is stereotypes. Members of ingroups tend to think about their enemies or the leaders of enemy groups in stereotypes. They are evil, not willing to negotiate, weak, not smart enough to react to your own actions. An important example involves the view on communism by the ingroup of President Johnson and their belief in the domino theory: ‘If we don’t stop the Reds in South Vietnam, tomorrow they will be in Hawaii and next week they will be in San Francisco’ (Janis 1971: 46). As the whole group around Johnson had accepted this view of the communists, it was impossible for anybody else to make the group change its mind. Communism had to be attacked.