I agree with the authors when they mention that self-justification was often done to protect jobs and reputation. I also think it is still used to for these reasons and more. Self-justifications to me, are like excuses as to why an individual made a certain decision and behaves a specific way. I can understand how it can be used to protect a job, especially now days. However, if it is an unethical decision, that affects other people or the purpose of the job itself, sometimes people can face worse consequences. In the examples that were shared in the article of Tavris and Aronson (2008) it did not seem the clinicians had repercussions in what they did. Nevertheless, I am certain if this was done today, things will be different.
In addition, Braun and Schmidmaier (2019) shared that cognitive dissonance is an unpleasant sensation created, for example, by a discrepancy between our thoughts and our behavior or by holding two contradictory viewpoints. I can relate cognitive dissonance to lead to self-justification. An individual can know he or she should not steal a woman’s purse at the mall, however, still does it. How do you feel with cognitive dissonance, and have you ever seen yourself in that position?