What is "intellectualization"

1821, noun of action from intellectualize.

alt. 1 (context uncountable English) the act or process of intellectualizing 2 (context countable English) an instance of such a process n. 1 (context uncountable English) the act or process of intellectualizing 2 (context countable English) an instance of such a process

n. (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that uses reasoning to block out emotional stress and conflict [syn: intellectualisation]

In psychology, intellectualization is a defense mechanism where reasoning is used to block confrontation with an unconscious conflict and its associated emotional stress – where thinking is used to avoid feeling. It involves removing one's self, emotionally, from a stressful event. Intellectualization may accompany, but is different from, rationalization, the pseudo-rational justification of irrational acts.

Intellectualization is one of Freud's original defense mechanisms. Freud 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.