Throughout history, we have seen how groupthink has effected the actions of many. Groupthink occurs when a decision is made by a group of people because they are pressured into believing that something is morally correct. Groupthink causes many to believe there are no alternative solutions in certain situation causing them to act in a certain way. It is most effective when a group has little or no outside influences on it and when the members of the group have similar backgrounds. Groupthink has a great number of symptoms, this include symptoms such as illusion of invulnerability, collective rationalization, belief in inherent morality, stereotyped views of out-groups, first pressure on dissenters, self-censorship and illusion of unanimity …show more content…
Direct pressure on dissenters is when the members of the group are not allowed to express feelings against any of the groups teachings. This means that the group members must agree with all of the groups beliefs (Janis). In the beginning of the work, the people begin to speak of how the lottery is being given up in the north village. Mrs. Adams also speaks of the vast amount of places that have already quit lotteries. However, Old Man Warner states, "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live hat way for a while. Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery" (Shirley Jackson 5). From the word of Old Man Warner, we are given an understand of selection bias at hand (Janis). Old Man Warren believes that the people of the town would not be civilized or sophisticated without the lottery. He makes them believe that the only way to keep order in the town is to continue using the lottery. This is why the people believe that the lottery is morally …show more content…
This means that the believes and ideas of the members of the group are unanimous with one another. This why the people in the town do not question the lottery and all gather together for it (Janis). Tessie states,"You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair" (Shirley Jackson 6). Because of this Mrs. Graves says, "All of us took the same chance" (Shirley Jackson 6). This makes the unanimity of the towns people clear to us. The people of the town do not want to be seen as outcasts, they do not speak up against the idea of the lottery as Tessie did. This is why Mrs. Delacroix says, "Be a good sport, Tessie" (Shirley Jackson 6). From the statements made by the towns people we see that they all believe in the lottery. They all knew the risk they were taking by being involved and they were all willing to take that risk. However, what the people do not understand is that they have many alternatives to the lottery. This is when the consequence of incomplete survey of alternatives is seen (Janis) The people truly do not need to take place in the lottery year after year. The lottery does not have a benefit for them. They can form other ways of preforming the lottery to help benefit their town. However, they truly do not see the negative effects it has on the town. Therefore, they continue preforming an action that does not help them in