The Role of Rationalization i n Consum er Decision Processes: A Revisioni st Appr oach to Consum er Behavior* Rom J. Markin, D.B.A. Washington State University INTRODUCTION Consumer Behavior theory, evolving from the mother science discipline of economics with its rigid adherence to marginal utility theory and the ritualistic assumptions pertaining to the rational consumer, has proposed a rational consumer who strives to maximize utility or satisfaction by the careful rationing of his resources. This rational consumer model is a kind of roving, prowling computer, ever alert to the sound of falling prices, infi- nitely familiar with all options and alternatives, seeking, and processing vast amounts of information-all for the purpose of making rational deci- sons, i.e., those which lead to utility maxim ization via high level cognitive- reasoning processes. Even though consumer behavior has largely moved beyond the frame- work of economic analysis, toward a more social-psychological orienta- tion, the relevant consumer model which shapes our analysis of consumer decision processes is still that of the rational-utility maximizing consumer. The position taken in this paper, however, is that what we mostly have are n o t rational decisions but rationalizing consumers and that the psychological process of rationalization can lead to either rational or irrational behavior. Consumer behavioralists, like others, learn to love the things for which they labor. And they have labored so long over the idea of a rational, cal- 9 Academy of Marketing Science, Journalo fthe Academy of Market ing Science Fall, 1979, Vol. 7, No. 4, 316-334 0092-0703/79/0704--031652.00 3 1 6