herdthink

English

Etymology

From herd +‎ think.

Noun

herdthink (uncountable)

1. Reasoning based on or characteristic of uncritical acceptance of or conformity to a perceived majority view.
   • 1993, Jonathan Rauch, Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 111:

     But there is another America, too—an America of herdthink, of intolerance.

   • 2009, James J. Cramer, Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 298:

     The most extreme and eventually the most dangerous kind of “herdthink” was hard to miss in the natural resource stocks, particularly the copper and natural gas stocks, as long as you knew what to look for.

   • 2010, Curtis Faith, Trading from Your Gut: How to Use Right Brain Instinct & Left Brain Smarts to Become a Master Trader, FT Press, →ISBN, page 36:

     Traders also need to understand these cognitive biases to avoid herdthink.

Synonyms

• groupthink