In reading this blog, or in life in general, you might find it useful to consider all the potential pitfalls of being a human being. Here is a list of all the cognitive problems we face in tackling any issue. They are going to be fundamental to determining our fate as a species.

Needless to say, this list has been compiled by an outside party, in this case Deepseek.

Human cognition, while powerful, is riddled with systematic patterns of deviation from rationality, known as cognitive biases or heuristics.

These mental shortcuts (heuristics) are often useful for making quick decisions, but they frequently lead to predictable errors in judgment. The problems you mentioned are classic examples and fit into a well-established framework.

Here is a comprehensive outline of these science-backed cognitive problems, categorized for clarity.

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I. Cognitive Biases (Problems in Individual Thinking)

These are systematic errors in thinking that occur when people are processing and interpreting information.

A. Decision-Making & Behavioral Biases

• Status Quo Bias: A preference for the current state of affairs. The baseline is taken as a reference point, and any change from that baseline is perceived as a loss. 1, 2
• Loss Aversion: The pain of losing is psychologically about twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. We are more motivated to avoid losses than to acquire equivalent gains. 1, 2
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: The tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made. ("I've already paid for the movie ticket, I might as well stay even though the movie is terrible.") 1, 2, 3
• Anchoring (or Focalism): The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor") when making decisions. 1, 2, 3
• The Dunning-Kruger Effect: A cognitive bias whereby people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability, while experts tend to underestimate their own ability. 1, 2, 3

B. Belief & Probability Biases (How we judge what's true and likely)

• Confirmation Bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms or supports one's pre-existing beliefs. 1, 2, 3, 4
• Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. If examples come to mind easily, we presume the event is common. (e.g., overestimating the risk of a shark attack after seeing news reports). 1, 2
• Negativity Bias: The tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative experiences and information than to positive ones. 1, 2
• Optimism Bias / Pessimism Bias: The tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive (or negative) outcomes for oneself compared to others. 1
• Gambler's Fallacy: The mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future (or vice versa). (e.g., "The coin has landed on heads five times in a row, so it's due to land on tails.") 1, 2, 3

C. Memory & Perception Biases

• Hindsight Bias: The "I-knew-it-all-along" effect—the tendency to see past events as having been predictable and inevitable. 1, 2
• Self-Serving Bias: The tendency to attribute positive outcomes to our own character or actions but attribute negative outcomes to external factors. ("I aced the test because I'm smart; I failed because the questions were unfair.") 1, 2
• Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations. (e.g., "That guy who cut me off is a jerk," rather than "Maybe he's having a medical emergency.") 1, 2

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II. Social & Group-Related Problems

These are biases related to our social nature and our membership in groups, exactly as you described.

A. Conformity & "In-Group" Biases

• Groupthink: The desire for harmony or conformity in a group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. People suppress dissenting viewpoints and critical evaluation to avoid conflict. 1, 2, 3, 4
• In-Group Favoritism (In-Group Bias): The tendency to favor one's own group, its members, and its products over those of other groups. 1, 2
• Out-Group Homogeneity Bias: The perception that members of an out-group are all the same ("They're all alike"), while seeing members of the in-group as diverse individuals. 1
• Bandwagon Effect: The tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. This is the "something the in-group believes" problem you mentioned. 1

B. Social Perception Biases

• Just-World Hypothesis (Just-World Fallacy): The tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve. This can lead to blaming victims for their misfortune. 1
• Halo Effect: The tendency for our overall impression of a person (e.g., they are attractive) to influence our evaluation of their specific traits (e.g., they must also be intelligent and kind). 1, 2, 3

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III. Authority & Power-Related Problems

These biases relate to how we perceive and are influenced by authority figures and structures.

• Milgram Experiment Effect / Obedience to Authority: The demonstrated tendency, from Stanley Milgram's famous experiments, for individuals to obey the instructions of an authority figure, even when they believe those instructions may cause harm to another person. 1
• Appeal to Authority (Argument from Authority): A fallacy where the opinion of an authority on a topic is used as evidence to support an argument, without critical evaluation of the authority's actual expertise on the matter or the evidence they provide. 1
• Automation Bias: The tendency to favor suggestions from automated decision-making systems and to ignore contradictory information made without automation, even if it is correct. (A modern form of authority bias). 1, 2
• Power Corrupts / The Lucifer Effect: A phenomenon, explored by Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, where individuals in positions of power may begin to act in ways that are unethical or abusive, and those subjected to that power may become passive and compliant. 1, 2

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IV. Broader Cognitive Limitations & Fallacies

These are overarching problems with how we reason and form arguments.

• Black-and-White Thinking (False Dichotomy/Dilemma): Presenting two opposing options as the only possibilities, when in fact more options exist. 1
• Straw Man Fallacy: Misrepresenting or oversimplifying an opponent's argument to make it easier to attack. 1
• Ad Hominem Fallacy: Attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. 1
• Cognitive Dissonance: The mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time. This often leads to motivated reasoning to reduce the discomfort. 1

Why Do These Problems Exist?

From an evolutionary perspective, these heuristics and biases were likely adaptive. They allowed our ancestors to make fast, "good enough" decisions with limited information and processing power in a dangerous world. However, in our modern, complex, and information-saturated society, these same shortcuts often lead us astray.

Understanding these patterns is the first step toward mitigating their effects, leading to better decision-making, clearer thinking, and a more accurate understanding of the world.