Jekyll_Hyde

Caitlyn Passey Mr. Spencer Period 1 3 December 2007 Rationalizing “To justify unreasonable actions or views by seemingly reasonable motives” (Webster’s 841) Rationalizing is everywhere from the book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to the common drug addict, all the way to a 17 year old high school student. “The moment I choose I can be rid of Mr. Hyde” (Stevenson 58). The biggest excuse for someone doing drugs is, “I can quit anytime I want.” The truth is that the addict focuses on a power that is greater then themselves and acknowledges an ashamed embarrassment. “The acknowledgment of lessons learned is often followed by thought of suicide especially in situations where the addict might be forced to deal with public persecution” (Addiction in class). In the state of realization, the average addict will pledge to abstain from further compulsive behavior in disgust at his intoxicated imprisonment to the pursuit of sordid desires (Addiction in class). This is shown as Dr. Jekyll pledges never to take the potion that turns him into Mr. Hyde ever again, but Dr. Jekyll proved to be an addict when he could not abstain from the potion. One of his rationalizing comments was, “All human begins as we meet them are commingled out of good and evil” (Stevenson 108). Dr. Jekyll rationalized turning into Mr. Hyde by saying every human has an evil side that needs to come out and be seen. Rationalizing can also be called cognitive dissonance, or the need for self justification. Psychologists say our brains work hard to make us think what we are doing is right. This theory was founded by L. Festinger who said, “People strive to make sense out of contradictory ideas and lead lives that are, at least in their own minds, consistent and meaningful.” Elliot Aronson helps explain what cognitive dissonance is: “Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that occurs whenever a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent, such as "Smoking is a dumb thing to do because it could kill me" and "I smoke two packs a day." Dissonance produces mental discomfort, ranging from minor pangs to deep anguish; people don't rest easy until they find a way to reduce it. In this example, the most direct way for a smoker to reduce dissonance is by quitting. But if she has tried to quit and failed, now she must reduce dissonance by convincing herself that smoking isn't really so harmful, or that smoking is worth the risk because it helps her relax or prevents her from gaining weight (and after all, obesity is a health risk, too), and so on. Most smokers manage to reduce dissonance in many such ingenious, if self-deluding, ways.” People are less likely to make the same mistake twice if they own up to it the first time. Aronson spoke about Wayne Hail the operation officer for NASA and the man who said yes for the Columbia to launch, and later those on the Columbia were killed. It would have been easy for Wayne to say that at the time everything looked as if it was in order, but when he looked at everything he confessed that he should have said no and that the negative out weighed the positive. Wayne did not try to give reasons for why he did not say no or that things weren’t his fault, but he said, “I was wrong it’s my fault.” He was able to keep his job and able to sleep at night because he was able to over power cognitive dissonance. If Dr. Jekyll avoided the thought of humans having an evil side and a good side he would have never had to come up with his excuses for Mr. Hyde. Humans have the need to always be right no one likes being wrong. Dr. Jekyll felt he needed to prove that his theory was right which then caused him the need to give excuses to Mr. Utterson and to himself that what he was doing was right. Ashley Michael said: “Alcoholics offer many excuses – “Drinking makes me feel better,” “It calms me down,” “I’m more fun when I’m drunk” and more – but these explanations only skim, the surface of the deeper issues that usually drive and fuel a drinking problem.” These are they’re reasons, excuses, or cognitive dissonance for drinking in reality none of these excuses are very strong and most of the time excuses aren’t. A typical high school student can have excuse after excuse for why they did not do their home work, but the bottom line is they didn’t do their homework, and they want everything to be alright even though they didn’t do their homework. No matter what way a person tries to rationalize a wrong behavior it does not make it right. Anyway Dr. Jekyll tried to justify Mr. Hyde’s behavior it did not make his actions right. You can’t reason away the facts. Works Cited “Addiction” in class Aronson, Elliot. "Mistakes were made (but not by me)." NPR. 20 July 2007. NPR. 17 Dec 2007 . Hart, Ph.D., Archibald D.. "When coping becomes Addiction." Trouble with. 2006. Focus on Family. 17 Dec 2007 . Michael, Ashley. "But I've Got Reasons." Trouble with. 2006. Focus on Family. 17 Dec 2007 . "Rationalize.” Webster’s New Encyclopedic Dictionary. 1993. Rationalizing Caitlyn Passey Mr. Spencer Period 1 3 December 2007