Groups and Leadership

I was a part of a group of friends in High School that wanted to perform a senior prank. The group participated in group think as we sneaked around the school grounds at night, avoiding any outdoor cameras for fear of getting caught on them the following day. This was a ridiculous idea that on person came up with and everyone else seemed to just go along with. Even though this act could result in all of us getting into huge trouble, both at school and at home, nobody spoke up. We all ended up trashing the front lawn of the school and while none of us were OK with it, nobody wanted to speak up because everyone else was doing it. We were all very quiet the entire time we put streamers and toilet paper all over the lawn. In fact, none of us said a word. And while I exchanged glances with a friend of mine, whose uncertain expression matched my own, neither of us said a word. After our act of High School rebellion, the guys laughed and talked about how great this all was. A few of us laughed along nervously. But all the while, these comments sounded more like us convincing ourselves that this was an OK thing to do. We all knew it was a bad idea and that we could all be in pretty big trouble, but it happened anyway. The power of groupthink is pretty huge. In order to minimize groupthink, we should have gone together with people we were good friends with, who would be comfortable talking about the possible problems with our plan. I could have made myself the "devil's advocate" to question the group's actions. We also could have gotten other people's opinions within our group, so that not just the person leading it was expressing opinions and ideas. I could have encouraged others to express their opinion about our idea at the time. We also could have asked the opinion of those outside the group of people who had decided to pull a prank.

Do you think groupthink happens more often in formal or informal situations? Which informal situations in college can you see groupthink playing a role?