Getting caught with a double standard triggers intense defensiveness

Evidence

Double standards reveal something truly insidious in our thinking. You can see this in the way we react when we get caught with one. “Defensiveness” shoots right off the scale. I myself desperately try to find some way to slip off the hook, usually by developing some convenient rationale, after the fact, that justifies what I did. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1452

Categorization

• XREF: Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger) — post-hoc rationalization after behavior conflicts with self-image. Also connects to moral licensing and motivated reasoning literature.