The Abilene Paradox is when a group of people all agree to do something that nobody really wants to do, just because everyone thinks it’s what the others want. It’s like when your family decides to go to a boring restaurant, and later everyone admits they didn’t want to go — they just didn’t say anything because they didn’t want to upset anyone.
This happens because of something called misperceived agreement, which means everyone believes the group agrees, even though no one actually does. People stay quiet because they’re afraid of conflict (fighting or disagreeing), or they think they’ll be the only one to speak up.
That fear is called action anxiety — it’s the nervous feeling that stops someone from saying what they really think. In these situations, everyone is trying to be polite or helpful, but it leads to bad choices and makes everyone unhappy.
This is different from groupthink, where people do agree but ignore problems to keep everyone happy. In the Abilene Paradox, the group looks like it agrees, but really, no one does.
This matters in places like schools, families, and workplaces because it shows how important honest communication is. If people feel safe to speak their minds, the group can make better decisions that everyone actually wants — instead of ending up somewhere no one wanted to go.