Rationalization

In psychology and logic, rationalization (also known as making excuses) is a defense mechanism in which controversial behaviors or feelings are justified and explained in seemingly rational or logical manner to avoid the merits of the true explanation, and are made consciously tolerable (or even admirable or superior) by plausible means. It is also considered an informal fallacy of reasoning.

Rationalization happens in two steps:

A decision, action, judgment is made for a given reason or no (known) reason at all.
A rationalization is performed, constructing a seemingly good or logical reason, as an attempt to justify the act after the fact (for oneself or others).

Rationalization encourages irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives, or feelings and often involves ad hoc hypothesizing. This process ranges from fully conscious (e.g. to present an external defense against ridicule from others) to mostly unconscious (e.g. to create a block against internal feelings of guilt or shame). People rationalize for various reasons - sometimes when we think we know ourselves better than we do. Rationalization may also differentiate the original deterministic explanation of the behavior or feeling in question.

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