Rationalization

[Mole]

Rationalisation is probably the most common defence mechanism here.

Rationalization is a psychological defense mechanism that involves explaining an unacceptable behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner, avoiding the true reasons for the behavior.

Rationalization not only prevents anxiety, it may also protect self-esteem and self-concept.

And rationalization is validated here by shared rationalizations.

So rationalization prevents anxiety and is the perfect disguise for our true feelings and actions.

 

[Mole]

Rationalization is distinct from reason.

Reason and evidence are ways at arriving at physical facts, while rationalization is a way of hiding the fact of our anxiety, and rationalization is a way of hiding unacceptable thoughts, feelings and actions.

Rationalization is pernicious because it rides on the back of reason, while, at the same time, betraying reason.

 

[Eruca]

How does one tell when another is reasoning rather than rationalizing, or vice-versa?

 

[WALMART]

Reasoning and rationalizing are one and the same - this is why science is theory, and never claims to be anything but.

Though of course it is still an excellent topic, and I'm glad you've started it. As you can tell, I prefer irrationality

 

[Mole]

How does one tell when another is reasoning rather than rationalizing, or vice-versa?

Rationalizing is a psychological defence mechanism. So rationalizing is defending against something in the person. It is usually anxiety.

Those who can't tell the difference between reasoning and rationalizing are without psychological insight.

This is a site devoted to psychology yet so many routinely rationalize here. I would have thought this is a wonderful place to gain psychological insight, but for most psychological insight remains foreign.

 

[Mole]

Reasoning and rationalizing are one and the same

We perceive by making distinctions. And the more distinctions, the more we see. And the more impoverished our distinctions, the less we see. So failing to see the distinction between rationalizing and reasoning, leaves us impoverished and blind.

 

[Eruca]

Rationalizing is a psychological defence mechanism. So rationalizing is defending against something in the person. It is usually anxiety.

Those who can't tell the difference between reasoning and rationalizing are without psychological insight.

This is a site devoted to psychology yet so many routinely rationalize here. I would have thought this is a wonderful place to gain psychological insight, but for most psychological insight remains foreign.

Okay then, here I go.

Rationalization is faulty reasoning motivated by a tendency to alleviate internal anxieties.

Sometimes, mole feels that he might be wrong, while the people he disagrees with might be in the right.

This makes mole anxious.

Therefore, he rationalizes that they must be rationalizing!

 

[INTP]

And rationalization is validated here by shared rationalizations.

Are you talking about the 8 function theories?

 

[INTP]

Reasoning and rationalizing are one and the same - this is why science is theory, and never claims to be anything but.

no

Rationalization (making excuses) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and yes there are other uses for the word, but none of them is same as reasoning

 

[Mole]

Okay then, here I go.

Rationalization is faulty reasoning motivated by a tendency to alleviate internal anxieties.

Sometimes, mole feels that he might be wrong, while the people he disagrees with might be in the right.

This makes mole anxious.

Therefore, he rationalizes that they must be rationalizing!

This is merely clever. And certainly it seems to me to be a psychological defence mechanism. But what feelings and thoughts is this cleverness defending against?

This is a site devoted to psychology, so surely it is more appropriate to explore our psyche than being merely clever.

 

[WALMART]

no

Rationalization (making excuses) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and yes there are other uses for the word, but none of them is same as reasoning

All this is stupid and semantical.

Get it?

But srs, I haven't looked far enough into seeing why the two vary, in some base manner of usage.

 

[Mole]

Are you talking about the 8 function theories?

No, I am talking about simple psychological defence mechanisms we use to hide our true feelings and thoughts from ourselves and each other.

Psychological defence mechanisms do provide relief from anxiety at the price of our true feelings and thoughts.

 

[Mole]

All this is stupid and semantical.

Get it?

But srs, I haven't looked far enough into seeing why the two vary, in some base manner of usage.

In psychology rationalization is a commonly agreed upon defence mechanism against anxiety.

And as rationalization is so common here, we may gain some psychological insight by realising that rationalization is hiding something from ourselves and others.

 

[INTP]

All this is stupid and semantical.

Get it?

But srs, I haven't looked far enough into seeing why the two vary, in some base manner of usage.

Makes no sense to argue for something you know that you dont know about..

Anyways "to rationalize" would be what you were looking for, but "rationalization" isnt the same.

 

[INTP]

No, I am talking about simple psychological defence mechanisms we use to hide our true feelings and thoughts from ourselves and each other.

Psychological defence mechanisms do provide relief from anxiety at the price of our true feelings and thoughts.

I was just making a pun for folks who believe in the 8 function theory. You know like someone might not feel good enough that they lack Fi for example if they are INTP, so the rationalization in this case would be coming up with new theory where they have Fi, even tho that contradicts so much stuff that it cant be true, yet people find some rationalizations for the theory and ignore other stuff in order to alleviate anxiety caused by not having Fi. Or something like that.

At the same time you seemed like you were pointing out that you think that the whole type thing is rationalization, so i tried to make funny.

Also i just wanted to see how you would respond

 

[Mole]

The Psychological Defence Mechanism, Anxiety and Relaxation

Once we become aware of our psychological defence mechanisms, and realize they reduce our anxiety at the expense of our real feelings, we may wonder what we can do about our anxiety.

We note that anxiety is maintained by personal tension, and in particular personal muscle tension. So if we relax our muscles one by one, we reduce our tension and our anxiety. And as we relax our muscles one by one we find we are relaxing our mind as well.

And as we practise physical and mental relaxation everyday, we relax in increasingly uncomfortable situations.

Relaxation practice is probably the most important thing for introverts so that we can mature emotionally and use all our gifts socially.

A good place to start to learn about physical and mental relaxation is the book, Relief Without Drugs, by Dr Ainslie Meares.

Here is a video mentioning Dr Ainslie Meares Strategies to Clear My Mind - Stillness Meditation - YouTube

 

[LadyRain]

There are a lot of defense mechanisms people use everyday. Out of all of them, I think rationalization is the least damaging to all concerned. Never-the-less, I went to find 2 quick quotes for you. Intellectualization and Rationalization go hand in hand, for the most part.

"Intellectualization is the overemphasis on thinking when confronted with an unacceptable impulse, situation or behavior without employing any emotions whatsoever to help mediate and place the thoughts into an emotional, human context. Rather than deal with the painful associated emotions, a person might employ intellectualization to distance themselves from the impulse, event or behavior. For instance, a person who has just been given a terminal medical diagnosis, instead of expressing their sadness and grief, focuses instead on the details of all possible fruitless medical procedures."

Rationalization is putting something into a different light or offering a different explanation for one’s perceptions or behaviors in the face of a changing reality. For instance, a woman who starts dating a man she really, really likes and thinks the world of is suddenly dumped by the man for no reason. She reframes the situation in her mind with, “I suspected he was a loser all along.”

 

[LadyRain]

I like this better:

"Rationalization is a defense mechanism that involves explaining an unacceptable behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner, avoiding the true reasons for the behavior. ... Rationalization not only prevents anxiety, it may also protect self-esteem and self-concept. When confronted by success or failure, people tend to attribute achievement to their own qualities and skills while failures are blamed on other people or outside forces."

So, although I do not know how the people of this site work and think, I do know that it is impossible for everyone to be rationalizing to avoid emotional disruption and that sometimes reason truly is just a "cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event".