The failure to address issues of Groupthink and Cognitive Biases
will undermine the output of any forum for political decision-making. Such
forums should, therefore, expect their participants to:
1)
Conduct themselves in a manner that helps mitigate
against Groupthink; notably participants should avoid:
a)
Belief in the morality of a cause without
question;
b)
The placing of pressure on individuals to
conform, and by not seeing questioning as disloyal or heretical;
c)
The suppression of ideas through failing to
discourage self-censorship;
d)
The interpretation of silence as consent;
e)
Using people and processes to suppress dissenting
and inconvenient information;
f)
The stereotyping of opponents or other groups as
evil or stupid;
g)
Encouraging a sense of invulnerability that leads
to unnecessary risks being taken;
h)
Ignoring warnings of failure through engaging in
collective rationalisation.
2)
Acknowledge the potential impacts of cognitive
biases, especially:
a)
Confirmation bias – whereby there is a tendency
to seek information that confirms preconceptions but discounts contradicting information;
b)
Self-serving bias – whereby there is a tendency
to emphasise one’s own personal or group successes rather than failures;
c)
Ingroup Bias – whereby there is a tendency to
overestimate the capabilities of one’s own group and underestimate its limitations;
d)
Belief bias – whereby logic is overridden by
belief in a conclusion;
e)
Projection Bias – whereby there is a tendency to
think others think like you;
f)
The Bandwagon effect – whereby there is a
tendency to act as others around you do;
g)
The Halo effect – whereby perceptions of
somebody’s capabilities or opinions are influenced by unconnected facts such as
celebrity status;
h)
Availability heuristic – whereby there is a
tendency to draw conclusions based on more memorable events whilst possibly
overlooking more pertinent events.
3)
Conduct themselves in a manner that fosters
civil debate by:
a)
Being courteous to others;
b)
Speaking truthfully and neither misrepresenting
facts, words and actions, nor deliberately citing them out of context.
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