Episode 109: The Slippery Slope of Self Justification

In this episode Valerie reviews some fascinating ideas about the relationship between cognitive dissonance and self justification and applies these ideas to humanity, institutions, churches, and the LDS church.

She walks you through the following ideas:

why humans and institutions self justify

why people in leadership are especially prone to self justification

why entire communities get caught up in self justifying behaviors

the self-justifying tactics people and institutions use when they are called out for questionable behaviors

what can be done to overcome the tendency to self justify 

In this episode Valerie applies principles of “self justification theory” to make sense of both historical and current struggles within the LDS church where this concept seems to readily apply.

The book referenced throughout this episode is called

Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts, by Carol Tavris, Marsha Mercant, et al.

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