Abilene paradox attitudes towards them if they do not go along. This action-anxiety arises from what Harvey termed "negative fantasies"—unpleasant visualizations of what the group might say or do if individuals are honest about their opinions—when there is "real risk" of displeasure and negative consequences for not going along. The individual may experience "separation anxiety", fearing exclusion from the group. The theory is often used to help explain extremely poor group decisions, especially notions of the superiority of "rule by committee". For example, Harvey himself cited the Watergate scandal as a potential instance of the Abilene paradox in action. The Watergate scandal
Harvey and the Wallbangers that Nick invited Harvey to form a new group to perform with them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 1981). That group was named Harvey and the Wallbangers, and included singers (male and female) from Harvey's Cambridge singing group – The University of Cambridge Consort of Voices who performed Harvey's arrangements of American Songbook classics. The following year the group also supported TBSO at the ADC Theatre Cambridge, which was followed by further gigs in Battersea and Buxton. The Wallbangers now included the long term personnel Jonny Griffiths (who had been studying at Clare college with Harvey) and Jeremy Taylor