Group Thinking Clouds Clear Decision-Making

I believe this study is essentially true. If you think about most revolutionary inventions and scientific ideas come not from groups but from individuals. From Albert Einstein's theory of relativity to the invention of the light bulb to the airplane (okay, here there were two people--but that is still not a group)--all came from individual people. There are not many committees that come up with cutting-edge ideas.

The article did not go into why groups cannot come up with alternative solutions but I have a theory about that. I think the reason why is because people in groups are afraid of their ideas being criticized or ridiculed. You have to be a brave person to go against the grain. By the way there is nothing wrong in criticizing an idea or theory--as long as you don't attack the person himself. That is what makes democracy great--each person expressing his/her opinion. Groups have a hard time coming up with creative ideas if there is no-one in the group that is not a leader or at least a catalyst.