Paula's post on groupthink got me thinking about agreement. Not only about the potentially dangerous effect of unexamined agreement within a group, e.g. the groupthink that Paula discussed, but also the equally dangerous effect of presumed agreement. A team composed of multiple professional tribes often doesn't agree even when there...

Groupthink is a concept within social psychology (okay so I'm stepping off my anthropology soapbox and borrowing one from my friends at soc-psych) that defines a style of group decision making where individuals are more motivated to agree rather than voice their own, differing opinion.  While it may seem less...

One of the first things we gain in the study of anthropology is the realization that there is both tremendous diversity and similarity in the world. We learn that while all societies share some basic characteristics, their expression can vary greatly. In the recognition, we hope to avoid ethnocentrism or...