Irving Janis

Irving Janis
Born	May 26, 1918 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Died	November 15, 1990 Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Chicago Columbia University
Occupation	Psychologist
Employer	Yale University
Spouse(s)	Marjorie Janis
Children	2 daughters

Irving Lester Janis (May 26, 1918 – November 15, 1990) was a research psychologist at Yale University and a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley most famous for his theory of "groupthink" which described the systematic errors made by groups when making collective decisions. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Janis as the 79th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Irving Janis was born on May 26, 1918 in Buffalo, New York. He received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Chicago in 1939, then received a doctorate from Columbia University.

During the Second World War, Janis was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he carried out studies of military morale. In 1947, Janis became a faculty member of the Yale University Psychology Department, where he remained for nearly forty years. He collaborated with Carl Hovland on his studies of attitude change, including the sleeper effect.

During his career, Janis studied decisionmaking in areas such as dieting and smoking. This work described how people respond to threats, as well as what conditions give rise to irrational complacency, apathy, hopelessness, rigidity, and panic.

Janis also made important contributions to the study of group dynamics. He did extensive work in the area of “groupthink,” which describes the tendency of groups to try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without sufficiently testing, analyzing, and evaluating their ideas. His work suggested that pressures for conformity restrict the thinking of the group, bias its analysis, promote simplistic and stereotyped thinking, and stifle individual creative and independent thought.

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