Irving Janis

Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short description Template:Infobox scientist 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>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=AmPsychObituary1992>Template:Cite journal</ref> A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Janis as the 79th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Early yearsEdit

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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

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 change, including the sleeper effect.<ref>Template:Cite book</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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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>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 lifeEdit

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 booksEdit

ReferencesEdit

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