“The strength and safety associated with groups can be a wellspring of innovation, justice, and compassionate social change. These same group aspects can lead to levels of hate and destruction that individuals cannot match.” R. Scott Tindale and Jeremy R. Winget, Loyola University Department of Psychology, Chicago
In the 2019 Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication, Tindale and Winget suggest that individual and group behavior differences result from inherent different perspectives. An individual may view a decision as a question of ethics that, in a group context, would be considered a strategic or common practice.
Group members motivated by self-preferences often impede dissemination of accurate information or withhold information conducive to collective functioning and may lie or spin information to their advantage. Two-thirds of the time they prevail, even when a group majority prefers cooperation.
The natural inclination of groups to enhance and protect themselves can make them more ethical than individuals, but when a group faces a decision impacting group welfare, it is easier to defend and choose alternatives to the group advantage. Thus, the group may make decisions that an outsider would consider unethical, such as lying in a negotiation, failing to disclose relevant information, or violating agreements.
Generally greedier than individuals, groups fuel the competition and deception that drive organizational scandals such as Enron’s financial coverup, British Petroleum’s devastation of the Gulf of Mexico, and Volkswagen’s false emissions software. Corporate leaders carry the blame; however, corporate and government decisions are made not by an individual, but by boards, executives, and legislative bodies, often aware that........