rationalization

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noun

A statement of causes or motives: account, explanation, justification, rationale, reason. See explain/baffle.

n. any action that increases the effectiveness of allied forces through more efficient or effective use of defense resources committed to the alliance.

Rationalization includes consolidation, reassignment of national priorities to higher alliance needs, standardization, specialization, mutual support or improved interoperability, and greater cooperation. It applies to weapons and materiel resources as well as to nonweapons military matters.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

The process of interpreting an agent's actions and sayings in order to see them as rational. It has been influentially argued by Collingwood and Davidson that this is an inevitable part of any historical method; equally, however, it is unclear where it tips over into simply reading the present back into the past. See also whig view of history.

1. The conscious or unconscious explanation of events or behaviour that avoids giving the true reasons because they would be disadvantageous to the subject or they would be socially unacceptable.

2. The process whereby social organizations increasingly emphasize efficient means and planning in order to achieve their goals. See also ludic institutionalization.

A rationalization is a logical or moral justification for an action or attitude that is provided by a subject whose (unconscious) motives are inaccessible. Two examples are justifying a fear of cancer by referring to other family members who suffered from the disease and justifying one's compulsive washing by offering sanitary concerns. The term was introduced in psychoanalysis by Ernest Jones (1908).

Rationalization is not really a symptom. It is more a way of masking and denying the symptom. Nor is it a compromise formation, since within certain limits it satisfies the drive. Nor is it a defense mechanism, since it is not directed toward any libidinal satisfaction. It is more of a way to keep from recognizing neurotic conflicts. It is the conscious secondary thought process of covering the symptom with a screen.

Rationalization is primarily found in cases of neurosis: "Compulsive acts [that occur] in two successive stages, of which the second neutralizes the first, are a typical occurrence in obsessional neuroses. The patient's consciousness naturally misunderstand them and puts forward a set of secondary motives to account for them—rationalizes them, in short" (Freud 1909d, p. 192).

Can the notion of rationalization be applied to delusion in particular, the logical delusion of paranoiacs? Some psychiatric studies have made use of an analogous concept to show how megalomania is caused by a need to explain and justify the feeling of persecution. In his essay on Judge Schreber, Freud rejects this formulation: "to ascribe such important affective consequences to a rationalization is, as it seems to us, an entirely unpsychological proceeding; and we would consequently draw a sharp distinction between our opinion and the one which we have quoted from the textbooks. We are making no claim, for the moment, to knowing the origin of the megalomania" (1911c [1910], p. 49).

Rationalization is sometimes compared to intellectualization, but the two concepts must be distinguished. In intellectualization, one distances oneself from psychic processes by cathecting one's own intellectual processes and thought. Rationalization, in contrast, primarily finds support in systems of thought, representations, and beliefs that are socially constituted and accepted.

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1909d). Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis. SE, 10: 151-318.

——. (1911c [1910]). Psycho-analytic notes on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia (Dementia Paranoides). SE, 12: 1-82.

Jones, Ernest. (1908). Rationalization in everyday life. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

—MICHÈLE BERTRAND

A reorganization of a company in order to increase its efficiency. This reorganization may lead to an expansion or reduction in company size, a change of policy, or an alteration of strategy pertaining to particular products.

Investopedia Says:
Similar to a reorganization, a rationalization is more widespread, encompassing strategy as well as structural changes.

(DOD) Any action that increases the effectiveness of allied forces through more efficient or effective use of defense resources committed to the alliance. Rationalization includes consolidation, reassignment of national priorities to higher alliance needs, standardization, specialization, mutual support or improved interoperability, and greater cooperation. Rationalization applies to both weapons and/or materiel resources and non-weapons military matters.

IN BRIEF: An explanation for one's conduct that is believable but untrue.

The thief's rationalization about why the money was missing was hardly believable.

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For a list of words related to rationalization, see:

• Syndromes, Disorders, and Conditions - rationalization: defense mechanism involving substitution of rational motive for genuine, but irrational, motive as excuse for one’s behavior

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