[ExI] Making Rationalizations is Superior to the Alternative

[Lee Corbin]

Damien Broderick wrote:

> At 10:05 AM 4/14/2009 -0700, Lee wrote:
> 
>> a *rational* response ... more reasoning and argumentation
> 
> Perhaps it's worth mentioning that "rationalization" is exactly *not* 
> any of those things. It's the process of cooking up fake "reasons" for 
> an emotional response.

Well, wikipedia says that in psychology, rationalization is

     Rationalization (psychology), the process of constructing a logical 

     justification for a decision that was originally arrived at through
     a different mental process

> It's not superior to the alternative, it goes with it.

I agree totally that it's a "cooking up" process. But the
usual usage appears to be truth-irrelevant, though I admit
to using it in the cynical way that I often substitute
"propaganda" for "education".

I'm pretty sure that the left hemisphere is constantly
"cooking things up". This is most noticeable as I'm
falling asleep. I hear nonsense strings. Do you hear
voices too?

When I was young, it was disjointed images that would
pop into my head just before I went under. Now it's
bizarre word phrases. I've written a few down. One was
"We all know the story of F. Santia". I've been tempted
to do a web search and to try to see who F. Santia was,
and just what my left hemisphere was assuming "we" knew.

Lee

P.S. See my upcoming post, "The Chattering Hemisphere".