‘I Justify Myself Excessively’: Possible Causes And Consequences Of This Behavior
Some people tend to give explanations for any action they take, no matter how small it may be.
This constant justification may have a basis, which we will try to explore in this article. Likewise, we will know what are some of the consequences of a behavior marked by over-explanation of the reason for each decision made by the person.
We all know someone who has a certain tendency to explain the reasons why they have carried out a certain action, even if it is really unimportant. These individuals may ask themselves, “why am I over-justifying,” a question that may have more depth than some may believe.
The overjustification of our actions can be generated for various reasons To begin with, there is an important difference between a behavior that, by its very nature, whether because of how unusual it is, its characteristics or the context, requires an explanation of it to other people so that they understand why, and other actions that may be routine and do not require said additional story.
In the case of the former, it would be unlikely that a person would think, “I justify myself excessively.” However, if the individual tends to explain each behavior that he performs in the second group, we could speak of excessive justification, which is the case we are referring to in this article.
These are the types of situations where it can be observed that a person gives more explanations than are necessary to justify their behavior, even when no one has explicitly asked the reason why he has acted in that specific way and not in another way
It will also be important to establish a differentiation between a dynamic that fits into the thinking of “I justify myself too much” and the fact of simply making excuses because of behavior that for some reason is not accepted or involves some type of conflict and therefore So much so that the creator tries to excuse himself to evade his responsibility, partially or totally.
Therefore, we have separated, on the one hand, the action of explaining a situation that, due to whatever circumstance, requires it, and on the other, the fact of using excuses as a means of avoiding being judged for controversial behavior. It is precisely the rest of the actions, the everyday ones, that do not need an explanation, that could be included under the condition of “I justify myself too much.”
Causes of the tendency to justify oneself too much
Once we have been able to clearly identify the type of behaviors that fit into this category, we will try to find out some of the causes that could be explaining this way of acting.
1. Lack of self-confidence
One of the most obvious could be a lack of self-confidence. When a person lacks sufficient self-confidence, You are likely to constantly seek validation from others, sometimes even exaggeratedly That is the case of some people who think, “I justify myself excessively.” The problem with self-doubt is that it can lead to a series of negative emotions.
These can end up translating into anxious and depressive symptoms. The search for approval from other people, which they would carry out through this repeated justification, would be acting as an escape valve for those emotions. The problem is that, on the other hand, a dependency on this validation could develop.
In other words, people who fit into the “I over-justify” box could end up entering the vicious cycle of justifying themselves due to low self-confidence and, by gaining the approval of others, justifying themselves even more thereafter. , which would make it difficult to eliminate that process.
On the contrary, the best thing would be for the person to do adequate work to improve their self-confidence. counting on the help of a psychologist who is an expert in this matter Thanks to this process, this individual would be able to validate his own actions without the need for external acceptance, which would consequently reduce the number of justifications that he would make for his actions.
2. Conflict avoidance
But there are other reasons why a person could present explanations so many times that they come to think, “I justify myself too much.” Another alternative could be to try to avoid any type of conflict. Although in some way it is related to a lack of self-confidence, it is different enough to enter a different category.
Therefore, this second cause would be conflict avoidance. A person who, for whatever reasons, whether due to their base personality, their learning history or some traumatic event, has an aversion to conflict, will try to act all the time so that these do not appear or are reduced as much as possible
One of those tools could be overjustification, which would give rise to the phenomenon of “I overjustify.” In this way, the person who would give exaggerated or repeated explanations could be doing so with the aim of making their peaceful intentions clear and thus not giving rise to the possible genesis of an argument, a misunderstanding or any other type of conflict. conflict.
As happened in the first case, this tendency could also generate a series of negative emotions in the individual, who would constantly live with the fear of being the architect of an incident with other people and not being able to manage it properly or fear any other consequences.
The possible solution would be to learn different coping strategies for these situations, so as not to have to spend all the time trying to justify each behavior and thus avoid bothering others. This work could be carried out by a psychologist specializing in social skills.
The therapist could teach this individual different tools for managing emotions and behaviors, with which they could learn to behave differently, feeling better about themselves and obtaining satisfactory results, which would reduce this discomfort.
3. Fear of giving a bad image
Exploring a third alternative that could be the cause, or at least part of it, of the issue at hand, we arrive at the fear of giving a bad image. As happened before, in a certain way it is also related to low self-confidence, but in this case it manifests itself in a very particular way.
Focusing on this new cause, we would find a type of people who, among their characteristics, They hide a fear of not being accepted or projecting a negative image of themselves to others This trait pushes them to try to be excessively cordial, and even servile.
In order not to give rise to any misunderstanding, they will try to explain each action they intend to carry out, trying to ensure that their image is not undermined in the process. This issue also links with the intention of not generating conflicts that we saw as a second possible cause, and that is that there may not be a single cause, but rather a combination of several, with a preponderance of some.
However, this attitude can have a paradoxical effect, caused by the phenomenon of over-justifying. The intention of this type of individuals is to overexplain yourself to try to keep your image in front of others as positive as possible However, this exaggeration of explanations could end up being striking or even annoying for some people.
This response is what could cause precisely what the person fears most, which is a devaluation of the image they are giving to others. This reasoning can even be one of the mechanisms that, as in other cases, generates negative emotions and discomfort, by increasing the fear you suffer and not knowing how to act to get it right.
As was the case in the previous cases, one of the ways to get rid of this discomfort is to start a therapeutic process with a psychologist who can guide you through different ways so that this person can finally face the situations that previously generated them. anxiety and fear in a safe way.
Although these are some of the causes that could be behind the tendency to over-justify, we must not forget that they are not the only ones, there may be other different reasons and, as we have seen, even combine several of them, either highlighting some cause above the rest or in a more or less balanced way.
