Rationalization: what it is and how it influences our thinking.

Let's see what rationalization is and how it biases the human mind, with examples.

No one is perfect, even though we find it hard to accept. Sometimes we screw up or fail to get things right, something totally normal of course, but which is very hard to accept.

On many occasions, far from accepting that perhaps we did not put all the effort we could have invested or that we did not have the necessary skills, we prefer to say that it was either the fault of other people or that we were unlucky... and we believe it! and we believe it!

Looking for logical but untrue explanations for our actions and for those of others has a name: rationalization.. Next we will see what this curious and common defense mechanism consists of.

What is rationalization?

Dealing with our daily life can often cause us stress and even coping with certain realities can overwhelm our psychological resources. These situations can be particularly threatening to our "ego" and, to avoid this, we bring into play various defense mechanisms with the intention of maintaining our psychological balance and avoiding any kind of disturbance. Among these mechanisms, one of the most widespread is that of rationalization.

In psychoanalysis, rationalization, also known as intellectualization, is the defense mechanism that consists in using rational explanations, valid or not, to hide from oneself and others the motives behind a behavior.. In other words, it consists in justifying our own and others' actions in such a way as to avoid censure, to give a logical explanation to our feelings, thoughts or behaviors. If we had to give a motto to this mechanism it would be "that is not my fault because...".

We human beings are not perfect and within this imperfection we are not able to accept this reality. That is why people give us reasons, apparently logical, in order to justify our setbacks and defects. We rationalize when we try to defend ourselves from the frustrating effect of our actions and we try to convince ourselves that it was either due to something external to us or, in case we have tried to achieve something but have not been successful in our task, we convince ourselves that we did not really want it that much.

Examples of rationalization

An example of rationalization can be found in the fable of the fox and the grape. The fox sees a bunch of grapes on a very high vine and craves them, so she says to jump to see if you can reach them. Unfortunately for her, she does not manage to jump high enough to reach the sweet fruit and exclaims "Ah, they are green!" and stops jumping. Yes, it is true, they are green and this appreciation is true, however, the real reason why she desists in her attempt is because she does not manage to jump high enough, but if she accepts this weakness she would feel frustration for not being able to achieve what she has set out to do.

Another example, in this case more applicable to life itself, is the situation in which many workers and students live with having to hand in a job but not getting it on time.. Far from recognizing that it was because they did not dedicate enough time or were not consistent, they begin to come up with all kinds of arguments to justify not meeting the deadlines. Cognitively it is much easier to accept that they did not deliver things on time because one day the computer was slow or because they could not do their part because the other members of the work team did not do their parts on time.

We could also give the example of a person who has made a resolution to go for a run every morning but is not following through. Far from recognizing that it is because he sleeps in or that he is lazy, he looks for logical arguments but they are still excuses such as that he does not have the right shoes, in the morning it is too cold and if he sweats he will catch a cold or that if something happens to him he will not be able to get help from anyone because at that time there is almost no one walking around.

Rationalization and psychopathology

Rationalization is a psychodynamic concept and, as such, it is inevitably related to psychopathology. from that perspective. This does not mean that people without psychological disorders do not rationalize or intellectualize our actions or that, if we do, we have a problem. It is totally normal that when we do something wrong or we do not achieve what we wanted, it is logical and even healthy to throw balls outside, saying that in reality we have had bad luck or that it is the fault of what others have done, although the ideal is to recognize where we have failed in order to improve and achieve it the next time.

From Freudian psychoanalysis it is considered that rationalization is something typical of neurotic personalities. It is also related to people with very sensitive egos, in the sense that they do not fit well their weaknesses and if this were the case they would feel a very high frustration and a great loss of self-esteem. In both cases, making rational excuses is so easy for them that they don't even realize they are doing it.

As we said, it is normal to rationalize our behaviors. However, this will be a cause for concern when we are constantly applying this mechanism, looking for "rational" but not real explanations for what has not gone well instead of going straight to the root of the problem, our possible failures, and trying to improve. What determines that this mechanism is a sign of disorder is the rigidity with which it manifests itself and its duration over time..

Rationalization is certainly a curious mechanism, given that when we apply it to ourselves we are not aware that we are applying it. That is to say, people do not consciously deceive themselves, but what happens is that a set of biased perceptions of reality make us believe our own story. For this reason, when a therapist or any other person tries to confront patients who constantly apply this mechanism to the reality of their actions, they often deny them.

As a final clarification at this point, we should not confuse rationalizing with reasoning about our behavior. Rationalization does not have to restrict our self-knowledge or our potential, i.e., to be aware of what we are doing.This is to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses.

Often reasoning is the step that comes after rationalizing, since once we have looked for a "logical" explanation for our behavior and some time has passed, we realize that in reality it is because we did things wrong or we lacked a bit of skill. Likewise, to avoid rationalizing, it is necessary to make an exercise of deep acceptance, to recognize that we are not perfect human beings, so any mistake or ignorance only indicates that we should try a little harder.

Bibliographical references:

• McLeod, S. A. (2019). Defense mechanisms. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/defense-mechanisms.html
• McLaughlin, Brian P.; Rorty, Amélie, eds. (1988). Perspectives on Self-deception. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520061231.