Advantageous Comparison, a Form of Rationalization

This is where you rationalize your behavior by comparing yours to someone doing something worse. “At least I’m not a serial killer.” It is a form of rationalization. Look at this quote from a movie.

From The Big Chill

Michael: I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They’re more important than sex.

Sam Weber: Ah, come on. Nothing’s more important than sex.

Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085244/quotes

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Advantageous comparison (Moral disengagement, part 4) | Engaging Peace

Advantageous comparison is another form of moral disengagement described byUp and down arrows psychologist Albert Bandura. This mechanism is a way of trying to make one behavior look good by comparing it with a more frightful alternative.

For example, during the Vietnam War, massive destruction of the Vietnamese countryside by means of Agent Orange was portrayed as being a lot better for the Vietnamese people than being enslaved by the Communists.

via Advantageous comparison (Moral disengagement, part 4) | Engaging Peace.

From around the web.

From the web site, Wise Geek.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-moral-disengagement.htm

Moral disengagement theory was developed by Albert Bandura, a developmental and social psychologist. This theory seeks to analyze the means through which individuals rationalize their unethical or unjust actions. Moral disengagement can be achieved through various mechanisms, such as moral justification, euphemistic labeling, advantageous comparison or attribution of blame.

One of the mechanisms for moral disengagement is moral justification. Under this mechanism, people who engage in immoral or injurious conduct seek to justify their actions through morality. To such people, any such act is considered a service to humanity or for the greater good of the community.