JUSTIFICATION

a social mechanism a person uses when he has committed a n overt act and withheld it. It is a means by which a person can relieve himself of consciousness of having done an overt act by trying to lessen the overt. This is done by finding fault or displacing blame. See also overt in this glossary. —The Anatomy of the Human Mind Glossary

explaining away the most flagrant wrongnesses. Most explanations of conduct, no matter how far fetched, seem perfectly right to the person making them since he or she is only asserting self-rightness and other-wrongness. (HCOB 22 Jul 63)