Basketball fandoms are an example of groupthink.
In sociology, Groupthink is a process where members of a group uncritically accept the viewpoints that their group has created.
The theory was created by Irving Janis in 1972 to explain the psychology behind decision-making and support for decisions, specifically foreign policies.
As an example, think about NBA fandoms.
People who grew up in the ’90s (or old school basketball heads) believe that Michael Jordan is the greatest player to ever play in the NBA.
This is the belief of their group.
However, modern or younger basketball fans believe that LeBron James is the GOAT.
The two groups have “evidence” and “facts” to back up their arguments for their player and they’ll use these to argue with one another.
They’ll say Jordan is the GOAT because he won 6 rings, played against tougher players in a tougher era, and achieved more with less (i.e. less technological shoes, less recovery tools and knowledge, and a worse team).
LeBron fans will say “The King” is better because he has more skills than Jordan, leads the NBA in All-Time Points Scored, has been to the NBA Finals more times, has played well in more seasons, and has more accolades.
But the thing is, they have these thoughts because of the group they associate themselves with; they believe these “facts” because it’s what the group created and told them.
Additionally, the members blindly accept these thoughts and haven’t taken into consideration that they can’t determine who the GOAT is because these two players haven’t played a single game against each other. They played in different eras and their age difference is 21 years.
Groupthink is a societal symptom that many groups deal with.
For instance, people who affiliate with conservative political parties tend to have the same arguments and beliefs as all of the other members and people affiliated with liberal political parties do the same thing.
Understanding this, Janis created guidelines to remedy Groupthink.
He said that groups should have experts from both sides to challenge the group’s views and members should play devil’s advocate, to name a couple of his recommendations.
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