Nesbit and Wilson(1977)[1] suggest that we have little or no direct intro-spective access to higher order cognitive processes.

Most of our behaviors are a result of System I thinking and most of our moral rationalizations exist as System II thinking. It's extremely difficult to do what we feel is wrong so it's easier to intellectually synthesize a frame where we're morally correct than force ourselves to act against our possibly wrong intuitions.

1. https://home.csulb.edu/~cwallis/382/readings/482/nisbett%20s...