Abilene paradox

Definition

The Abilene paradox is a collective fallacy, in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of most or all individuals in the group, while each individual believes it to be aligned with the preferences of most of the others. It involves a breakdown of group communication in which each member mistakenly believes that their own preferences are counter to the group's, and therefore does not raise objections. They even go so far as to state support for an outcome they do not want.

Related concepts

Abilene, Texas Adverse effect Allais paradox Apportionment paradox Argument from free will Argumentum ad populum Arrow's impossibility theorem Arrow information paradox Asch conformity experiments Barber paradox Barbershop paradox Berry paradox Bertrand paradox (economics)Bhartrhari's paradox Blowback (intelligence)Braess' paradox Braess's paradox Burali-Forti paradox Buridan's ass Buridan's bridge Butterfly effect CSI effect Campbell's law Card paradox Catch-22 (logic)Chainstore paradox Chicken or the egg Cobra effect Coherence (fairness)Coleman, Texas Committee Condorcet paradox Crocodile dilemma Curry's paradox Decision-making Decision-making paradox Democratic National Committee Design by committee Dominoes Downs–Thomson paradox Dream argument Drinker paradox Easterlin paradox Edgeworth paradox Elephant in the room Ellsberg paradox Epicurean paradox Epimenides paradox European paradox Excess burden of taxation Externality Fallacy False consensus effect Fenno's paradox Fitch's paradox of knowability Four Pests campaign Fredkin's paradox Free choice inference Gibson's paradox Giffen good Goodhart's law Gossip Grelling–Nelson paradox Group communication Group polarization Groupshift Groupthink Hawthorne effect Heat death paradox Hedgehog's dilemma Herbert Porter Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel Hillsborough disaster House monotonicity Hutber's law Hydra effect I know that I know nothing Icarus paradox Imperative logic Income and fertility Information system Inventor's paradox Inverse consequences Jevons paradox Kavka's toxin puzzle Keynesian beauty contest Kleene–Rosser paradox Leontief paradox Lerner paradox Liar paradox Liberal paradox List of paradoxes Lottery paradox Lucas paradox Makerere University Makerere University Business School Management Mandeville's paradox Mayfield's paradox Meno Mere addition paradox Metzler paradox Moore's paradox Morton's fork Moving the goalposts Murphy's law Navigation paradox New riddle of induction Newcomb's problem Nixon administration Nocebo No–no paradox Olbers's paradox Omnipotence paradox Opposite Day Osborne effect Parable of the broken window Paradox Paradox of analysis Paradox of competition Paradox of enrichment Paradox of fiction Paradox of hedonism Paradox of nihilism Paradox of prosperity Paradox of the Court Paradox of thrift Paradox of toil Paradox of tolerance Paradox of value Paradox of voting Paradoxes of material implication Paradoxes of set theory Parkinson's law Parrondo's paradox Peer pressure Perverse incentive Pinocchio paradox Plato's beard Pluralistic ignorance Prediction market Preface paradox Preference falsification Preparedness paradox Prevention paradox Prisoner's dilemma ProQuest Productivity paradox Prosocial behavior Pseudoconsensus Public choice Quine's paradox Raven paradox Rebound effect (conservation)Resource curse Richard's paradox Risk compensation Road trip Russell's paradox Scitovsky paradox Self-defeating prophecy Self-refuting idea Serendipity Service recovery paradox Ship of Theseus Social exclusion Social isolation Social trap Social value orientations Sorites paradox Space Shuttle Challenger disaster Spiral of silence St. Petersburg paradox State-population monotonicity Streisand effect Systems analyst Temperature paradox The Antitrust Paradox The Green Paradox The Wisdom of Crowds Thought experiment Tragedy of the commons Tullock paradox Tyranny of small decisions Unexpected hanging paradox Unintended consequences Watergate scandal What the Tortoise Said to Achilles White Horse Dialogue Willpower paradox Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language Worst-case scenario Yablo's paradox Zeno's paradoxes

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