Social Cohesion Irritability, interpersonal tensions and intergroup conflict have been noted in isolated and confined groups, and the fear is that social conflict could lead to dangerously low levels of performance [2,18,45]. Whereas rampant conflict does no-one any good, limited or contained conflict may be a healthy sign. For example, conflict can stimulate creativity and novel solutions to problems, and may be a precondition for constructive change. In a sense, an unconflicted group is a complacent group; a conflicted group is in the process of finding better ways of doing things. Taylor reports that, in Antarctica, too much of a "group orientation" has led to a failure to take the initiative and fulfill personal responsibilities [29], Efforts to suppress conflicts may be counterproductive when groups are trying to solve problems that require careful analysis. In certain situations, consensus-seeking and efforts to preserve amiability within the group have undermined critical thought and led to disastrous decisions [46]. Symptoms of "groupthink" include fear of disapproval (which discourages the introduction of new ideas), direct social pressures on deviants (or "boat rockers"), wishful interpretation of facts and figures, and a false sense of optimism. Symptoms of groupthink are evident in accounts of the fateful decision to launch the Challenger [47] and groupthink could be equally disastrous in space itself. There are antidotes to groupthink. For example, roles can be defined in such a way that crewmembers are critical evaluators rather than agreeable "yes men", or someone can be appointed a devil's advocate to argue against the popular position. However, such antidotes are likely to introduce elements of social conflict. Research on intergroup behavior suggests that conflicts can be resolved through the imposition of superordinate goals; that is, goals that are sufficiently compelling that people will work together to achieve them [48]. Space missions are, in effect, superordinate goals that can unite different factions. The overall sense of purpose may keep tensions within crews or between crews and mission control from escalating to dangerous levels. As Cunningham noted: In the face of all this - the social ramble, the home tensions, the instant hero worship - we never lost sight of one thing: the mission came first. Where it counted, deep in our guts, nothing else existed. Everything else was parsley [38, p. 75]. Well-defined, purposeful missions in space may even unite spectators. For example, during the dark days of the 1960s, the time of civil unrest and the Vietnam War, the U.S. space program was one of the few areas of national unity and accomplishment. Media accounts at the time of the Apollo moon landing reveal a measure of national pride, a sense that the entire country had taken part [49], Except when fear intervenes (as may have been the case in western reactions to the launch of the original Sputnik) a sense of achievement extends beyond national boundaries. More than 600 million people, worldwide, sat glued to their television sets watching the first lunar landing, and the event itself induced a brief sense of unity throughout the world:
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