The Field That Studies Groupthink Is Captured by It | Ep 45

Is the very field that studies groupthink falling victim to it?

Today on Heterodox Out Loud, Smriti Mehta, researcher at UC Berkeley and co-founder of the Heterodox Academy campus community, joins John Tomasi to examine a striking paradox at the heart of modern academia: the disciplines designed to study bias and conformity may themselves be shaped by it.

Drawing on her experience as a graduate student navigating pressure to conform—and her work building communities for open inquiry—Mehta explores how intellectual homogeneity can influence what questions get asked, what findings get published, and which ideas are considered legitimate.

From the politics of social psychology to the challenges of free speech at Berkeley, this conversation investigates how groupthink can quietly take hold—even in fields committed to studying it—and why viewpoint diversity is essential for maintaining the integrity of research.

Offering an insider’s perspective, the discussion explores how universities can foster genuine intellectual diversity without sacrificing rigor, and why teaching students to engage critically with ideas may matter more than enforcing consensus.

In This Episode:

💥 How social psychology can fall into the trap of groupthink

💥 Why viewpoint diversity is often misunderstood

💥 The hidden pressures shaping academic research

💥 What makes certain topics “radioactive” in universities

💥 The tension between conformity and innovation in science

💥 Free speech, protest culture, and the heckler’s veto