(University of British Columbia)
Rationalization: When, why, and so what?
It is widely accepted that some people, some of the time, rationalize aspects of reality that they find disturbing: They change their beliefs or attitudes in such a way as to make that reality less disturbing. For example, as a woman, I might look around the world and see evidence of gender inequality, and I could rationalize that by thinking to myself that men and women make different choices, and men are probably more competent anyway, so those gender inequalities are probably legitimate. In this talk, I explore the question of when people are especially likely to rationalize, with the ultimate goal of shedding light on why they do so. Across multiple studies and methodologies, I find that people are especially likely to rationalize that which they perceive as real, inescapable and unavoidable. I also present theory and preliminary evidence for the multiple functions served by rationalization.
The colloquium will be held in Psychology Building 035.