The Night Before the Shuttle Challenger Launch, an Engineer for One

Multiple Choice

The night before the shuttle Challenger launch, an engineer for one of NASA's contractors brought up concerns over how cold it was projected to be the next day. When his manager and NASA managers discussed the issue, they collectively rationalized that temperature was not a problem, censored the engineer who initially had the concerns, and mistakenly believed they were in unanimous agreement that the launch should proceed. As a result, this team of engineers and managers experienced ________.

A) groupthink
B) transformative decision making
C) diffusion of responsibility
D) group polarization