group polarization
Discussion breeds extremity
Group polarization is the tendency for group discussion to push members toward more extreme positions than they held individually.
If members lean slightly conservative before deliberating, they emerge more conservative afterward; if slightly liberal, more liberal.
The effect appears in jury deliberations, political committees, and online echo chambers: Group polarization explains why the committee's final recommendation was so much more aggressive than anyone's initial position.
- hive mindUnified group consciousness
- echo chambersInsular opinion-reinforcing environments
- confirmation biasPreferring belief-supporting information
- motivated reasoningBiased cognition favoring preferences
- tribal loyaltyAllegiance to one's group
collective identity · social contagion · online communities · conformity · peer pressure · silent majority · filter bubble · rabbit hole · cognitive dissonance · reinforcement · social comparison · radicalization · bandwagon · extremism · divide · mob mentality · faction · spiral
- social psychologysocial behavior, conformity, social influence, attribution, groupthink
- herd behaviorherd mentality, bandwagon effect, conformism, peer pressure, following the crowd
- collective mindhive mind, hivemind, collective consciousness, collective intelligence, swarm intelligence
group polarizationdepolarization
Loss of electrical gradient
convergence · consensus building · regression to the mean · centrism · compromise
group polarizationgroup cohesion
Team members' mutual bond
common ground · social integration · bipartisanship · reconciliation · bridging