Designed to banish death thoughts, rationalizations defer health behaviors indefinitely.
Evidence
But at other times, proximal defenses can have pernicious consequences. Occasionally we rationalize our bad choices by saying something like, “That fried cheese stick would be bad for me if I was fat, but luckily I’m just big-boned, so I’ll have a dozen.” This kind of “not-me” tactic gets death thoughts out of mind, but it doesn’t do anything to promote one’s physical well-being. Not-now tactics work, too: “It’s too damned hot to exercise, and it wouldn’t be right not to help my neighbors kick the keg at the July Fourth picnic!” or “I’ll cut down on my drinking as soon as the wine cellar is empty.” Such thoughts drive death thoughts out of mind, but in so doing, they defer effective behavior, often indefinitely. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 650
Categorization
- SEED: The ‘big-boned’ and ‘wine cellar’ rationalizations are vivid, self-aware examples of self-deception that could anchor a popular essay on why people talk themselves out of their own good intentions.