Group Decision Traps

Specimens

Naive Realism You experience your view as plain reality - so disagreement looks like bias, ignorance, or bad faith in other people. 79 · Severe Cognitive Ingroup Bias You favor members of your own group over those in outgroups. 77 · Severe Social Stereotyping You assign a whole group fixed traits - then treat the person in front of you as a reprint of the cartoon. 77 · Severe Social Ultimate Attribution Error You explain outgroup failures as character and outgroup successes as luck - while giving your side the kinder story. 77 · Severe Social Essentialism You treat a category as if it had a fixed inner essence - so one label seems to explain everything about a person, group, or thing. 77 · Severe Reasoning Hostile Attribution Bias You read ambiguous behavior as intentional hostility - a bump becomes a slight before you have evidence. 75 · Severe Cognitive Groupthink A cohesive group suppresses dissent and critical testing so that unanimity feels like correctness. 75 · Severe Social Outrage Amplification You mistake emotional intensity for evidence - anger, fear, or disgust become proof that something is true, urgent, or malicious. 75 · Severe Digital Synthetic Consensus Bots, brigades, and fake engagement make a view look widely shared - so you treat manufactured agreement as the public. 75 · Severe Digital Semmelweis Reflex You reject new information or evidence simply because it contradicts established norms or beliefs. 73 · High Reasoning Spiral of Silence You stay quiet because you think your view lacks support, which can make the apparent majority look stronger than it is. 72 · High Social Just-World Hypothesis You believe that people get what they deserve in life. 71 · High Cognitive Identifiable Victim Effect A named or pictured victim may attract more help than an otherwise comparable anonymous victim. 71 · High Judgment Fundamental Attribution Error You overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others' behavior. 71 · High Perceptual System Justification You defend existing social arrangements as fair, natural, or inevitable - even when they harm you or your group. 70 · High Cognitive Outgroup Homogeneity They look like one type - while we look like varied people with nuance. 70 · High Social Scope Neglect Your caring and spending barely scale with size - so 2,000 harms can feel almost like 200. 69 · High Judgment Other-Downing You turn someone's flaw or frustration into a global verdict on who they are. 68 · High REBT Authority Bias Status, title, or a lab coat can make a claim feel true - before you check whether the argument earns it. 68 · High Logical Stereotype Threat Pressure from a negative group stereotype can interfere with your performance - even when you reject the stereotype. 68 · High Social Deepfake Cynicism (Liar's Dividend) "Anything could be fake" becomes an excuse to dismiss real evidence. 68 · High Digital Bandwagon Effect You adopt beliefs or actions because others are doing the same. 67 · High Social Screenshot Epistemology You treat cropped screenshots or clips as sufficient evidence - without checking the original source, timing, edits, or missing context. 67 · High Digital Reactive Devaluation You devalue proposals or solutions simply because they come from an opposing party. 66 · High Cognitive Self-Enhancement Bias You see yourself as above average on the traits you care about - even when the math cannot hold that many winners. 66 · High Cognitive Ego Bias When status or competence feels threatened, you protect your self-image instead of updating. 65 · Moderate Emotional Actor-Observer Bias You explain your own behavior with situations - and other people's behavior with character. 63 · Moderate Cognitive Representativeness Heuristic You judge the probability of something based on how closely it matches a stereotype or prototype. 63 · Moderate Perceptual Illusory Correlation You perceive a link between two things when the connection is weak, absent, or random. 60 · Moderate Cognitive False Consensus Effect You overestimate how much others agree with your beliefs or behaviors. 60 · Moderate Cognitive Straw Man You knock down a weaker, weirder version of someone's claim - and treat the win as if you answered the real one. 60 · Moderate Logical Moral Credential Effect You are more likely to engage in morally questionable behavior after establishing your moral credentials. 59 · Moderate Social Curse of Knowledge Once you know something, it gets hard to imagine what it is like not to know it - so you skip steps others still need. 58 · Moderate Cognitive