a personality defense mechanism that consists in the systematic and excessive use of abstract thoughts, generalizations, and logical explanations. With its help a person protects themself from experiencing threatening emotions and prevents the expression of unacceptable impulses. The goal of intellectualization is to transform one’s own conflicts and other emotionally charged problems into a neutral, purely intellectual task. In the process of intellectualization, the cognitive content of a conflict or other experience is isolated from its emotional aspect.