internalisierter

Internalisierter is a German adjective meaning "internalized." In scholarly contexts it describes something that has been incorporated into a person’s inner mental life, typically through socialization, experience, or learning. The term is commonly used with nouns such as Normen (norms), Werte (values), Überzeugungen (beliefs), Rollenbilder (role expectations), or Schuldgefühle (guilt). For example, a person can have internalisierte Normen that guide behavior without external prompting, or internalisierter Druck (internalized pressure) that affects decisions and emotions.

The word derives from the verb internalisieren, to internalize, and the corresponding noun is Internalisierung. In psychology and sociology, internalisierung refers to the process by which external standards or expectations become part of one’s self-regulation. The concept is related to psychoanalytic introjection, where external objects or values are absorbed into the ego. In practice, internalisierter can describe both processes (e.g., internalisierte Einstellungen) and states (e.g., ein internalisierter Schuldkomplex) that result from such internalization.

Usage notes: internalisierter declines like a regular adjective in gender, number, and case (e.g., ein internalisierter Norm, eine internalisierte Norm, die internalisierte Normen). It is also common to encounter the past participle form internalisiert in predicative or verb-like contexts (“Die Norm ist internalisiertian”). In English-language scholarship, the closest translation is “internalized,” and related terms include Internalisierung and internalisierte Normen.