Chapter 1. Groupthink and the Challenger

Video Summary

In 1986, NASA launched the 25th space shuttle mission with the space shuttle Challenger. Seventy-three seconds into the flight, disaster struck. The space shuttle exploded with millions of people—many school aged children—watching. Follow-up investigation showed that the decision making process resulted in not listening to concerns about the flaw that caused the explosion. This video shows a re-creation of the decision process and how groupthink may have played a role.

Video

Question

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Correct!
Sorry, your answer is incorrect. They didn’t pass on their concerns to NASA.

Question

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Correct!
Sorry, your answer is incorrect. They didn’t believe the O-ring issue was related to the cold.

Question

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Correct!
Sorry, your answer is incorrect. Over time, the members of the conference started to focus their attention on evidence that supports their position to launch and ignore the evidence that the O-rings would be faulty at colder temperatures.

Question

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Correct!
Sorry, your answer is incorrect. The manager at Thiokol making his decision in the offline caucus is a classic example of suppression of dissent in groupthink situations.

Question

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Correct!
Sorry, your answer is incorrect. All of these are reasons why the teleconference in the video is a classic example of groupthink.