The Psychology Behind Choosing the NBA's Greatest Player Ever:A To Z Terminology

When determining who, in your opinion, is the greatest player in National Basketball League history, there is obviously a psychological stimulation which is incited.

Therefore, I have chosen a psychological term for each letter of the alphabet which will help us explain how people choose who is the greatest player ever.  Then I will reach into my own psyche and figure out who the greatest ever is by utilizing all terms combined.

A - Abnormal Psychology 

The area of psychological investigation concerned with understanding the nature of individual pathologies of mind, mood, and behavior.  Each individual takes it upon themselves to pick a GOAT and then defend their choice.

B - Belief-Bias Effect

A situation that occurs when a person's prior knowledge, attitudes or values distort the reasoning process by influencing the person to accept invalid arguments.  Many people choose a GOAT by who they like or know or follow the most, and that is the extent of their pick.

C-Centration

A thought pattern common during the beginning of the pre-operational stage of cognitive development characterized by the child's inability to take more than one perceptual factor into account at the same time.  Some people say who they think the GOAT is but haven't developed enough of a true knowledge of NBA history to really be qualified to say it with authority.

D-Deductive Reasoning

A form of thinking in which one draws a conclusion that is intended to follow logically from two or more statements or premises.  Some people actually analyze the GOAT issue to a point where they are on target or close to a real definite answer.

E-Emotion

A complex pattern of changes, including physiological arousal, feelings, cognitive processes and behavioral reactions made in response to a situation perceived to be personally significant.  Not a good way to pick GOAT but done carelessly everyday, which is kind of sad.

F-Fixation

A state in which a person remains attached to objects or activities more appropriate for an earlier stage of psycho sexual development.  Some fans never develop beyond who they think is best only choosing from their generation favorite, which is dumb.

G-Gestalt Psychology

A school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive perceptual elements.  This method should always be used to pick the true GOAT, but it rarely is used, which waters down the argument.

H-Hallucinations

False perceptions that occur in the absence of objective stimulation.  Some people may pick a GOAT which can only be relegated to hallucinatory perception.

I-Imprinting

A primitive form of learning in which some infant animals physically follow and form an attachment to the first moving object they see and/or hear.  This is a foolish way to pick a GOAT because it disallows actual comparison in favor of a childish choice.

J-Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

The smallest difference between two sensations that allows them to be discriminated.  When it comes to picking the GOAT something that seems like the slightest difference can make one guy greater than another.

K-Kinesthetic Sense

Sense concerned with bodily position and movement of the body parts relative to each other.  Some pick the GOAT by how the player looked when he was playing on the floor but not by other factors.  Was the GOAT smooth or powerful, or both?

L-Lucid Dreaming

The theory that conscious awareness of dreaming is a learnable skill that enables dreamers to control the direction and content of their dreams.  Some choose a GOAT by dreaming that their favorite is actually the greatest ever—but it is usually just a dream.

M-Meta-Analysis

A statistical technique for evaluating hypotheses by providing a formal mechanism for detecting the general conclusions found in data from many different experiments.  This is a great way to judge the GOAT without bias but it is too deep for most to follow.  America wants a quick and easy answer.

N-Normative Investigations

Research efforts designed to describe what is characteristic of a specific age or developmental stage.  Some pick a GOAT by analyzing the player in relation to his own NBA generation.  Were the 1950's NBA players as good as the 1990's NBA players?

O-Opponent Process Theory

The theory that all color experiences arise from three systems, each of which includes two "opponent" elements (red versus green, blue versus yellow, and black versus white).  Who did the GOAT play against in his time and were they worthy competitors?

P-Perceptual Organization

The processes that put sensory information together to give the perception of a coherent scene over the whole visual field.  This is a useful tool in picking the GOAT but you would have to be pretty old to have seen the various generations of NBA greats to properly compare them.

Q-Quirk

Some people just make quirky GOAT picks to be weird, which is foolish.

R-Recency Effect

Improved memory for items at the end of a list.  Some people can only remember the latest NBA version of players so that is who they pick, which is a bad, bad way to truly pick a GOAT

S-Scientific Method

The set of procedures used for gathering and interpreting objective information in a way that minimizes error and yields dependable generalizations.  This is one aspect of a good GOAT pick, but of course there are those who forget science and add in emotion, which I do not recommend.

T-Theory of Ecological Optics

A theory of perception that emphasizes the richness of stimulus information and views the perceiver as an active explorer of the environment.  Going by the reporters and analysts and broadcasters whose entire job everyday is to follow the NBA is how some choose, but then it wouldn't truly be a persons pick for GOAT, it would be an 'experts' vote.

U-Unconditioned Response (UCR)

In classical conditioning, the response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus without prior training or learning.  This is when people go with their gut and say a name of who they think the GOAT is, regardless of facts. 

V - Visual Cortex

The region of the occipital lobes in which visual information is processed.  This is a dumb way to pick a GOAT because it only goes by what you have personally seen.  You may be too young to have ever seen a game before 1990, so that is a crappy way to go.  

W-Working Memory

A memory resource that is used to accomplish tasks such as reasoning and language comprehension which consists of the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive.  Going by what you remember you have seen is a factor in picking GOAT

X-X Factor

There may be a certain factor that people use to choose GOAT, like most popular, or a fan might think a player has an unexplainable 'thing' that does not show up in the stats.

Y-Yerkes-Dodson Law

A correlation between task performance and optimal level of arousal.  This is a factor in picking GOAT.  You get excited when a player is so damn good for so long. 

Z-Zygote

The single cell that results when a sperm fertilizes an egg.  It all comes down to basic human nature.

CONCLUSION

After thoroughly analyzing every psychological factor on this list and many, many more, I took away all the bad ways to pick a GOAT and then used all the good ones.  There are ten players who fit every criteria for being even considered the GOAT with one standing as the most analyzed in ever facet as the GREATEST PLAYER IN NBA HISTORY—MICHAEL JORDAN

Jordan is the one player that was unbelievably beyond the hype and psychology and he truly EARNED, on the court, the title of the GREATEST of All-Time. 

P.S.—according to this intense psychological survey I did there were only seven other players who fit the criteria for true GOAT and they are—Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain