You made me realize that maybe I’m lumping together two different self-defeating activities under the label of rationalization.
There is prior rationalization, for example to justify why the effort already expended is sufficient, or the course of action chosen is the best one (the mental effort put into choosing a course of action is sufficient).
Then there is posterior rationalization, for example to justify not re-thinking future strategy, not making future attempts, or not expending the effort to mitigate the consequences of an undesired/unexpected past outcome.
You made me realize that maybe I’m lumping together two different self-defeating activities under the label of rationalization.
There is prior rationalization, for example to justify why the effort already expended is sufficient, or the course of action chosen is the best one (the mental effort put into choosing a course of action is sufficient).
Then there is posterior rationalization, for example to justify not re-thinking future strategy, not making future attempts, or not expending the effort to mitigate the consequences of an undesired/unexpected past outcome.