Subjects were 140, third-year social science students from three universities in The Netherlands. The three experimental conditions differed in the type of anticipated accountability: individual accountability, collective accountability, and a control condition with no accountability. Under conditions conducive to a collective avoidance, individual accountability was more effective in reducing groupthink-like tendencies than collective accountability. Group members expected to be collectively responsible still displayed fewer symptoms of groupthink than control groups. In particular, accountability made groups display more difficulty in reaching consensus, stimulated group members to try to influence the decision making, and resulted in a more equal dispersion of influence within the group and in less risky decisions. 3 figures, 2 tables, 1 appendix, and 38 references (Author abstract modified)