Rationalisation is a defence mechanism that no one escapes.
When we experience situations that are particularly threatening to our 'self' or sense of self, we tend to protect ourselves in order to maintain a certain psychological balance that allows us to move forward with as little damage to our ego as possible.
Rationalisation is probably the most widespread defence mechanism.
What is rationalisation in psychology?
The concept of rationalisation dates back to the psychoanalyst Ernest Jones. In 1908, he proposed the first definition of rationalisation: 'the invention of a reason to explain an attitude or action whose motive is not recognised'. Sigmund Freud quickly adopted the concept of rationalisation to make sense of the explanations offered by patients for their neurotic symptoms.
Basically, rationalisation is a form of denial that allows us to avoid conflict and the frustration it generates.
How does it work? We look for reasons - apparently logical ones - to justify or hide errors, weaknesses or contradictions that we do not want to accept or do not know how to handle.
In practice, rationalisation is a denial mechanism that allows us to deal with emotional conflicts or internal or external stressful situations by inventing reassuring but incorrect explanations for our own or others' thoughts, actions or feelings in order to cover up the real reasons.
The rationalisation mechanism: trapped by what we do not want to acknowledge
In a general sense, we resort to rationalisation to try to explain and justify in a seemingly rational or logical way our behaviour or what has happened to us, so that those facts become tolerable or even positive.
Rationalisation occurs in two stages. At first we make a decision or implement a behaviour motivated by a certain motive. At a second stage we construct another reason, clothed in apparent logic and coherence, to justify our decision or behaviour, either towards ourselves or towards others.
It is worth noting that rationalising does not imply lying - at least in the strictest sense of the term - because many times we end up actually believing the constructed reasons. The rationalisation mechanism follows paths away from our consciousness; that is, we do not consciously deceive ourselves or others.
In fact, when a psychologist tries to unmask these reasons, it is normal for the person to deny them because they are convinced that their reasons are valid. We cannot forget that rationalisation is based on an explanation that, although false, is plausible. Since the arguments we put forward are perfectly rational, they manage to convince us and we therefore do not need to acknowledge our inability, error, limitations or imperfections.
Rationalisation acts as a dissociation mechanism. Without realising it, we establish a distance between the 'good' and the 'bad', attributing the 'good' to ourselves and rejecting the 'bad', in order to eliminate the source of insecurity, danger or emotional tension that we do not want to recognise. In this way we manage to 'adapt' to the environment, even if we do not really resolve our conflicts. We save our ego in the short term, but we do not protect it forever.
Neuroscientists at the University of California have discovered that the rationalisation mechanism can be quickly activated when we have to make difficult decisions or are faced with ambivalent conflicts, without prolonged reflection, simply as a by-product of the decision-making process to alleviate the anxiety, psychological discomfort and cognitive dissonance brought about by the decision-making process itself.
Therefore, we are not always aware that we are rationalising. Nevertheless, this denial will be more or less intense and lasting depending on how much we perceive reality to be more or less threatening to our 'self'.
Examples of rationalisation as a defence mechanism in everyday life
Rationalisation is a defence mechanism that we can use without realising it in everyday life. Perhaps the oldest example of rationalisation comes from Aesop's tale 'The Fox and the Grapes'.
In this fable, the fox sees some grapes and tries to reach them. But after several failed attempts, he realises that they are too high. So he scorns them, saying: "They are not ripe!".
In real life, we behave like the fox in the story without realising it. Rationalisation, in fact, fulfils several psychological functions:
- Avoiding disappointment. We can resort to rationalisation to avoid being disappointed in our abilities and protect our positive self-image. For example, if a job interview went badly, we can lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that we did not really want that job.
- Not recognising limitations. Rationalisation prevents us from having to recognise some of our limitations, especially those that make us uncomfortable. If we go to a party, we may say that we don't dance because we don't want to sweat, when the truth is that we are ashamed to dance.
- Shying away from guilt. We tend to use the rationalisation mechanism to hide our mistakes and block out guilt. We can tell ourselves that the problem we are worried about would have occurred anyway or think that the project was doomed from the start.
- Not recognising reality. When reality exceeds our capacity to deal with it, we resort to rationalisation as a defence mechanism to protect ourselves. A person in an abusive relationship, for example, may think it is her fault for not recognising that her partner is a violent person or that he does not love her.
When does rationalisation become a problem?
Rationalisation can be adaptive in that it protects us from emotions and motivations that we would not be able to handle at the time. We can all put some defence mechanism into practice without our behaviour being considered pathological. What really makes rationalisation problematic is the rigidity with which it manifests itself and its prolonged extension over time.
Kristin Laurin, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo, has in fact conducted a series of very interesting experiments in which she shows that rationalisation is often used when one believes that problems have no solution. In practice, it is a kind of surrender because we assume that there is no point in continuing to fight.
In one of the experiments, participants read that reducing speed limits in cities would make people safer and that the legislature had decided to lower them. Some of these people were told that the new traffic law would come into force, while others were told that there was a possibility that the law would be rejected.
Those who believed that the speed limit would be reduced were more in favour of the change and looked for logical reasons to accept the new measure, than those who thought there was a possibility that the new limits would not be approved. This means that rationalisation can help us face a reality that we cannot change.
However, the risks of using rationalisation as a usual coping mechanism usually far outweigh the benefits it could bring us:
- We hide our emotions. Repressing our emotions can have devastating effects in the long run. Emotions are there to signal us a conflict that we need to resolve. Ignoring them usually does not solve the problem, but they are likely to fester, hurting us more and perpetuating the maladaptive situation that generates them.
- We refuse to recognise our shadows. When we practise rationalisation as a defence mechanism we may feel good because we are protecting our image, but in the long run, not recognising our weaknesses, mistakes or imperfections will prevent us from growing as people. We can only improve when we have a realistic image of ourselves and are aware of the qualities we need to strengthen or perfect.
- We distance ourselves from reality. Although the reasons we seek may be plausible, if they are not true because they are based on faulty logic, the long-term results can be very negative. Rationalisation is usually not adaptive because it moves us further and further away from reality, in a way that prevents us from accepting it and working to change it, serving only to prolong a state of dissatisfaction.
The keys to stop using rationalisation as a defence mechanism
When we lie to ourselves, we not only ignore our feelings and motives, we also hide valuable information from ourselves. Without this information, it is difficult to make good decisions. It is as if we are walking through life blindfolded. On the other hand, if we are able to appreciate the full picture clearly, reasonably and detachedly, however difficult it may be, we will be able to assess which is the best strategy to follow, the one that causes us the least harm and this, in the long run, benefits us the most.
That is why it is important to learn to recognise our emotions, impulses and motivations. There is a question that can take us a long way: "why?" When something bothers us or makes us uncomfortable, we simply have to ask ourselves why.
It is important not to settle for the first answer that comes to mind because it is likely to be a rationalisation, especially if it is a situation that particularly upsets us. We must continue to investigate our motivations, asking why until we reach that explanation that generates an intense emotional resonance. This process of introspection will pay off and help us get to know ourselves better and accept ourselves as we are, so we will have to resort less and less to rationalisation.