Groupthink in action

I've been learning about the phenomenon of groupthink for a couple years now, but I had never noticed it occur in real life... Until yesterday.

My group for the Creative Project 3 was a dream. I got to know three girls to whom I had never spoken before, and got to spend more time with one of my friends. We all got along swimmingly to say the least.

Everyone contributed, everyone cared about the project, and everyone respected one another.

However, I believe that our like for each other caused group think to occur at one point. We had a section that was super choppy and didn't fit in with the rest of the documentary. Since one girl out of the five of us was responsible for editing that specific portion, no one wanted to say anything about changing that section. I could see eyeballs skirt around the group, trying to see if anyone was going to bring up the need for a re-edit. No one said anything. We all said the video looked "great" and "amazing," "oh my gosh good job." We all sort of figured that the rest of the documentary would make up for one crummy section. Or, we each figured we were the only one who disliked the section. Certainly, none of us wanted to offend anyone.

But then we watched what was, at the time, supposed to be the finished project. I couldn't handle it. That section stuck out like a really sore thumb! So I said something. Carefully, but I said something: "Hey you guys, what do you think about trying to make this section smoother?" Everyone exhaled at once, like all of them had been holding their breath. The group excitedly agreed, expressing their own wish to do the same.

I'm glad I broke through the groupthink blockade. My only regret is not doing it sooner.