Give some examples of group polarization in everyday life.

Give some examples of group polarization in everyday life.

make decisions in the appeals court over a number of years found an interesting effect. Republican appointed judges make more conservative decisions with other Republican appointees than with Democratic ones. In other words, when they are working with like-minded people they make more extreme judgments.

We can also see group polarization in communities; gang delinquency, and "landslide" elections are all good examples. We also see group polarization on the internet. Do you belong to any virtual groups? In virtual communities, like-minded people tend to get together, and the people in these groups can feed off each other. Good examples of these kinds of groups are right or left wing political groups. If you look, you'll be able to find groups that call themselves "left wing" which have become far from what we would call mainstream.

We can also see group polarization in terrorist groups. No one is born thinking they want to be a terrorist -- no one is born thinking he wants to blow himself up and kill innocent people. Becoming a terrorist is a process. The process begins when someone joins a group of like-minded individuals who start talking about the problem and their ideas. Groups can shift to become more and more extreme, as the moderate drop out or join other groups. All that is left are the extremists.

In all of these cases these groups are initially formed based on shared beliefs or grievances. Ultimately however, members of the group become isolated from moderating influences. This can lead to extreme beliefs, and very poor decision-making.