Question

Why is B incorrect?

@Steph and @Shiyi-Zhang, Happy to help. Let's take a look at (B), (C), and (E). The question says, "It can be inferred from the passage that both the author of the passage and the researchers mentioned in the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about groupthink?" (B) says, "The causal factors that transform group cohesion into groupthink are unique to each case." The problem with (B) is that it's far too strong a statement. (B) is saying that there exist different causal factors that lead to each occurrence of groupthink, and neither the author nor the researchers mentioned in the passage state anything this strongly. Additionally, the author mentions that one causal factor that contributes to groupthink is the "desire for genuine concurrence on every important issue" (lines 24 and 25), and the researchers note three factors that lead to groupthink (lines 40-52). It's likely that the author and the researchers would agree that the factors they have identified are common to many—or even most—instances of groupthink, so it's likely they'd disagree with what (B) is saying. Thus, we can get rid of this choice. (C) says, "The continued study of cohesiveness of groups is probably fruitless for determining what factors elicit groupthink." The author does not believe that the continued study of cohesiveness is fruitless for figuring out what factors elicit groupthink. The author says in lines 54-57 that "it is important to work toward identifying the additional factors that determine whether group cohesiveness will deteriorate into groupthink." Because the author wants to investigate group cohesiveness in order to identify these different factors, we know that the author would disagree with what (C) is saying, so it's out. (E) says, "On balance, groupthink cannot be expected to have a beneficial effect in a group's decision making." Both the author and the researchers think that there are bad things about groupthink. The author thinks that groupthink has a danger that its members will not carry out the critical scrutiny that could help to reveal the grounds to object to the group's decision (lines 26-31), and the researchers say that groupthink deals with overestimation of the group's power and morality, excessive optimism, closed-mindedness, and an unwarranted pressure toward uniformity (lines 40-49). The author and the researchers use words that reveal their opinions that groupthink is pretty bad for decision making. (E) captures this well, as it says that groupthink won't have a positive effect on a group's decision making, so (E) is the correct answer choice. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!