Editing Irving Janis

{{Use American English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{short description|American psychologist (1918–1990)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Irving Janis
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = May 26, 1918
| birth_place       = [[Buffalo, New York]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1990|11|15|1918|5|26}}
| death_place       = [[Santa Rosa, California]], U.S.
| death_cause       = 
| other_names       = 
| fields            = [[Psychology]]
| thesis_title      = Psychological effects of electric convulsive treatments
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301842764/
| thesis_year       = 1950
| known_for         = 
| education         = [[University of Chicago]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br />[[Columbia University]] ([[PhD]])
| employer          = [[Yale University]]
| title             = 
| term              = 
| predecessor       = 
| successor         = 
| party             = 
| boards            = 
| spouse            = Marjorie Janis
| children          = 2
| parents           = 
| relatives         = 
}}
'''Irving Lester Janis''' (May 26, 1918 – November 15, 1990) was an American 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.<ref name=NewYorkTimesObituary1990>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/18/obituaries/irving-janis-dies-at-72-coined-group-think.html |title=Irving Janis Dies at 72; Coined 'Group Think' |work=[[New York Times]] |date= November 18, 1990}}</ref><ref name=AmPsychObituary1992>{{Cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = M. Brewster  | last2 = Mann | first2 = Leon | doi = 10.1037/0003-066X.47.6.812 | title = Irving L. Janis (1918–1990): Obituary | journal = [[American Psychologist]] | volume = 47 | issue = 6 | pages = 812–813 | date = June 1992}}</ref> A ''[[Review of General Psychology]]'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Janis as the 79th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haggbloom |first1=Steven J. |display-authors=etal |title=The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=6 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=139–152 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139 |url=http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug02/eminent.aspx |last3=Warnick |first3=Jason E. |last4=Jones |first4=Vinessa K. |last5=Yarbrough |first5=Gary L. |last6=Russell |first6=Tenea M. |last7=Borecky |first7=Chris M. |last8=McGahhey |first8=Reagan |last2=Powell |first2=John L. III|s2cid=145668721 }}</ref>

== Early years ==
Irving Janis was born on May 26, 1918, in [[Buffalo, New York]].<ref name=AmPsychObituary1992 />  He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1939, then received a Doctor of Philosophy in psychology from [[Columbia University]] in 1950.<ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis">{{cite web |url=http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb4t1nb2bd&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00032&toc.depth=1&toc.id=/|title=University of California: In Memoriam, 1991. Irving L. Janis|last1 = Nemeth | first1 = Charlan| last2 = Tetlock | first2 = Philip | author-link2 = Philip E. Tetlock |year= 1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ELECTRIC CONVULSIVE TREATMENTS - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301842764/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=www.proquest.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
During the [[Second World War]], Janis was drafted into the [[U.S. Army]], where he carried out studies of military morale.<ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis" />  In 1947, Janis became a faculty member of the [[Yale University]] Psychology Department, where he remained for nearly forty years.<ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis" />  He collaborated with [[Carl Hovland]] on his studies of [[attitude (psychology)|attitude]] change, including the [[sleeper effect]].<ref>{{cite book |title="Biographical Memoirs: Volume 73" |year=1998 |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/9650/chapter/13 |publisher=www.nap.edu |doi=10.17226/9650 |isbn=978-0-309-06031-8 |language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Irving Janis American psychologist |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Irving-Janis |publisher=Britannica.com}}</ref>

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.<ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis" />

Janis wrote or co-wrote more than a dozen books, including ''Psychological Stress'' (1958), ''Victims of Groupthink'' (1972), ''Decision Making'' (1977), ''Groupthink'' (1982), and ''Crucial Decisions'' (1989).<ref name=NewYorkTimesObituary1990 /><ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis" />

In 1967, Janis was awarded the Socio-Psychological Prize by the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]].<ref>[http://archives.aaas.org/awards.php?a_id=24 History & Archives:  AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research]</ref>  In 1981, he received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association. In 1991, he won the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.<ref name=NewYorkTimesObituary1990 /><ref name=AmPsychObituary1992 />

He retired from Yale University in 1985, and in 1986 was appointed Adjunct Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name="University of California: In Memoriam, 1991 Irving L. Janis" />

== Personal life ==
Janis' father, Martin Janis, owned an art gallery in Los Angeles. His uncle was the pioneering art dealer [[Sidney Janis]]. Irving Janis was married to Marjorie Janis, with whom he had two daughters.  He died of lung cancer on November 15, 1990, in [[Santa Rosa, California]].<ref name=NewYorkTimesObituary1990 />

== Selected books ==
*{{Cite book | last1 = Hovland | first1 = Carl Iver | last2 = Janis | first2 = Irving L. | last3 = Kelley | first3 = Harold H. | author-link = Carl Hovland | title = Communication and persuasion; psychological studies of opinion change | year = 1953| publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | oclc = 187639 }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Psychological stress; psychoanalytic and behavioral studies of surgical patients | year = 1958| publisher = Wiley| location = New York| oclc = 14620125}}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Personality and persuasibility | year = 1959| publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | oclc = 224637}}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Personality: dynamics, development, and assessment | year = 1969 | publisher = Harcourt, Brace & World | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-15-569585-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/personalitydynam0000unse }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Victims of groupthink; a psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes | year = 1972 | publisher = Houghton, Mifflin | location = Boston | isbn = 978-0-395-14002-4}}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | last2 = Mann | first2 = Leon | title = Decision making: a psychological analysis of conflict, choice, and commitment | year = 1977 | publisher = Free Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-02-916160-9 | url = https://archive.org/details/decisionmakingps00janirich }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Wheeler | first1 = Daniel D. | last2 = Janis | first2 = Irving L. | title = A practical guide for making decisions | year = 1980 | publisher = Free Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-02-934460-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/practicalguidefo0000whee }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Counseling on personal decisions: theory and research on short-term helping relationships | year = 1982 | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | isbn = 978-0-300-02484-5 }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Groupthink: psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes | year = 1982 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | location = Boston | isbn = 978-0-395-31704-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/groupthinkpsycho00jani }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L. | title = Stress, attitudes, and decisions: selected papers | year = 1982 | publisher = Praeger | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-03-059036-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/stressattitudesd0000jani }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Janis | first1 = Irving L.| title = Crucial decisions: leadership in policymaking and crisis management | year = 1989 | publisher = Free Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-02-916161-6 }}

== References ==
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[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American psychologists]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American social psychologists]]
[[Category:Jewish American psychologists]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:Communication scholars]]
[[Category:APA Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology recipients]]
[[Category:Conformity|*]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Teachers College, Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Calabria]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]