Irving Janis (1918-1990)

Professional Life
Irving Janis was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1918. He studied at the University of Chicago and went on to receive his doctorate from Columbia University.  While in the Army during WWII, Janis studied the morale of military personnel. When he was discharged, he joined the faculty of Yale University and remained in the Psychology Department there until his retirement four decades later, before briefly holding the position of Adjunct Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Janis focused much of his career on studying decision making, particularly in the area of challenging habitual acts such as smoking and dieting. He researched group dynamics, specializing in an area called “groupthink,” which describes how some collections of people are able to reach a compromise or consensus without thoroughly analyzing ideas or concepts. He revealed the relationship peer pressure has to conformity and how this dynamic limits the confines of the collective cognitive ability of the group, resulting in stagnant, unoriginal, and at times, damaging ideas.

Janis authored several books and articles throughout his long career. He worked with Carl Hovland to research theories of attitude and explore areas of psychology relating to persuasion. Janis was recognized for his many accomplishments over the years, receiving several honors, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Socio-Psychological Prize and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology’s Distinguished Scientist Award.

Contribution to Psychology
Groupthink is a dynamic that occurs when individual creativity and independent thinking are sacrificed for conformity in a group environment. Groupthink happens when members of a group try to avoid conflict and compromise to reach an agreement without adequate evaluation or comparison of perspectives and ideas. Several factors, such as contextual situations, cohesiveness, and agreeableness, affect the outcome of the decision making process during groupthink.

Irving Janis researched the influence of groupthink more extensively than any psychologist previously. He explored the effect of groupthink on military personnel when confronted with threatening situations. He examined the retrospective ramifications groupthink may have had on Nazi mentality and other historical events, including Watergate, the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The phenomenon of groupthink is often cast in a negative light because it impairs creativity and innovation, and because of the research models Janis chose to study exhibiting its effects. However, in certain applications, groupthink can be an effective and productive means to an end, allowing groups to come to decisions in more efficient and expedited manners than if they remained engaged in discussion or disagreement. Groupthink has been explored in various social contexts, including business, educational, clinical, and personal, and has impacted research and studies across a spectrum of psychological and social fields.