Rationalization’s cousin, intellectualization, refers to the use of abstract analysis to rob events of personal significance. The intellectualizer is able to avoid emotional reactions to and painful awareness of his or her problem. Most of the reasons people give for remaining addicted to nicotine and alcohol are intellectualizations: “I need one vice, so it’s cigarettes,” say some smokers, although, of course, no one “needs” a life-threatening behavior.
