Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Intellectualization
open-in-new
<p>In psychology, intellectualization (intellectualisation) is a <a href="/facts/Defence_mechanism/DElFgLaE">defense mechanism</a> by which reasoning is used to block confrontation with an <a href="/facts/Unconscious_mind/BAIRTFMM">unconscious</a> conflict and its associated emotional stress – where thinking is used to avoid feeling. It involves emotionally removing one's self from a stressful event. Intellectualization may accompany, but is different from, <a href="/facts/Rationalization_(psychology)/VIde1jHp">rationalization</a>, the pseudo-rational justification of irrational acts. </p><p>Intellectualization was among the first defense mechanisms identified by <a href="/facts/Sigmund_Freud/KKIYbom9">Sigmund Freud</a>. He believed that memories have both conscious and unconscious aspects, and that intellectualization allows for the conscious analysis of an event in a way that does not provoke anxiety. </p>