The psychology of groupthink is very interesting. It is pretty clear from research that even a lone dissenting voice improves the quality of decision making. This is an interesting read:
https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/n...ve decisions and the production of good ideas.
The book looks at some research done into juries and how they arrive at decisions. It also looks at situations where group think can convince people to do something entirely wrong. One example was when working in a group to answer quiz questions as a team, when several team members "planted" as part of the research insisted a green item was actually yellow, they were able to get their group to agree it was yellow. When individuals alone or in a group without a majority of "plants" in them saw the same item, they correctly identified the colour. The book uses the movie "Twelve Angry Men" as an illustration of how dissent can challenge and overcome group think.
It's a fascinating book, and one that I learned some ideas I could use to improve my own decision making. I read it when I was Department Head for a university. I wanted to make better decisions. I used these principles to allow and encourage dissenting views on decisions, and to dissent myself to get people thinking of alternative solutions. None of us are always right. I just thought it would be best to figure out when I was wrong before doing something costly or harmful.
