Unconscious Misjustification

Sincerely producing a wrong, off-target reason for a feeling or choice whose real cause is out of view. The reason is not a lie and not a cover-up. It misses because the true cause sits where conscious reasoning cannot point, so the mind supplies a stand-in that heads the wrong way, and pursuing it only strays further.

• Someone avoids the train and says “it’s a hassle” and “it’s so unclear,” when the real cause is fear of the unknown or of being confined in a moving cabin.
• A person turns down a promotion citing “the commute,” when the actual driver is a fear of being exposed as not good enough.
• Someone keeps putting off a phone call calling it “pointless,” when the real reason is dread of the other person’s reaction.