Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Cisgender writers defend transphobic journalist Jesse Singal who spreads unscientific views. They reinforce exclusion: "There should, of course, be more trans writers & artists. But…trans people, like members of any other group, have their own prevalent forms of groupthink." 3/

Originally a term inspired by Orwell's 1984, groupthink is a #psychology term theorised by Prof Irving Janis to describe how members of a social group will value in-group cohesion and harmony, at the expense of new ideas or critical thinking when making decisions under stress. 4/

Groupthink leads to false optimism & risktaking; overconfidence in the morality of group norms; stereotypes; ignoring evidence that contradicts worldview; censorship; conformity; pressure to remain loyal; and self-appointed 'mindguards' gatekeep info. Let's come back to this. 5/

What causes groupthink? High social cohesion without exposure to outside members & ideas (say like in a private group for cisgender writers who exclude transgender people); homogeneity - e.g. lacking balanced leadership or methodological rigour (like excluding transpeople)... 6/

...and external threats, such as difficulties in decision-making or moral crises (e.g. cigender writers feeling anxious that transpeople are slightly more visible). A group that excludes transpeople but frets about their perceived encroaching power suffers from groupthink. 7/

Groupthink applies to homogenous orgs & memberships. Janis examined decision-making by the Army. This #BehaviouralScience term is NOT meant to be applied to heterogenous groups like transgender people, who come from multiple ethnic, racial, disabled & other social groups. 8/

Transgender people's critiques of transphobic writing is NOT groupthink.* The private group in the Jezebel article IS groupthink, because influential cisgender writers reinforce one another's transphobic beliefs, use this to justify exclusion in the group, & externally. 9/

Let's come back to mindguards. These are group members who take it upon themselves to gatekeep information. Singal is an example. He uses his media platforms to spread a biased view of transgender people even though he's not an expert on transgender or other gender research. 10/

Singal has a long history of transphobic reporting. He has shown up on my threads before, even though he's not tagged, not the subject of the discussion, and where I - as a sociologist of gender - have discussed methodological/theoretical problems with transphobic articles. 11/

Mindguards see it's their personal quest to filter info that contradicts group values; to limit informed discussion; & narrow possible solutions for decision-making. Writing articles to infect parents with doubt about their transgender children is the function of a mindguard. 12/

It's irresponsible to use #SocialScience research to discredit the lived experiences of marginalised groups. Conservative writers poach #BehaviouralScience ideas to serve their interests. Influential writers cocooning themselves from critical thinking is bad for the public. 13/

To end, journalists, academics & writers must stop normalising transphobia & misusing #SocialScience to reinforce exclusion of minorities. They retreat into private groups b/c they know this is inexcusable, but this has broad consequences as they control information flows. 14/