This is a Freudian defense mechanism known as “idealization,” the process in which we elevate someone to near perfection in our minds, often setting ourselves up for disappointment.

The idealization of the West sold. Chinese consumers chose European worldliness and an Italian brand name over domestic “tackiness.” Many similar instances of proximity to whiteness, falsely equated ...

Address at the Harvard Medical School under the auspices of the Alpha Omega Alpha Society. Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.

Unrealistic Idealization Prevents the Decline of Marital Satisfaction," link to come] Most people mentally accentuate their partners’ better qualities. At least during courtship. If we didn’t ...

But Allen Hardware, with its numbered aisles, gray-painted cement floor and its elaborate displays of brass fixtures and fireplaces, could not, in the end, overcome the public’s idealization of ...