Rationalization - How we miss living life and morph into fear and unhappiness Rationalization from the psychological position is an excuse or a defense mechanism, where feelings or positions get explained away so that the positions become more palatable than dealing with the reality. It is a way for people to justify not doing or acting in the way a situation would naturally require for true resolution. The rationalized behavior is then made to seem like the proper way of doing something as opposed to the real correct way of handling an issue. This process can cause people to put off doing what is necessary to solve a problem, deal with real feelings, and take appropriate action, and instead, rationalize a different, perhaps inappropriate and ineffective course. It can be intentional or unintentional, but it always seems to be a better and easier way out of a problem, rather than the actual, most appropriate method.