Individualization remains the most prominent theoretical explanation for the shifts in Europeandemographic trends since the 1960s, including decreasing marriage and fertility rates and increasingdivorce rates. Demographic theorists suggest that a shift from traditional to individualized values,such as autonomy and self-realization, has been driving these trends. However, conceptualizingindividualization as a set of values cannot account for why Swedish marriage rates have increasedsince 1998, despite highly individualized values. This article suggests re-thinking individualizationas a form of internally referring attributions in causal and moral reasoning about human behavior,emphasizing agency and internal causes over structure or context. As such, individualizationshapes peoples’ perceptions and understandings of the world, including their expectations ofmarriage and close relationships. Data from focus groups support this conceptualization andshow how participants individualize risks, while perceiving marriage itself as inconsequential.In line with previous research, individualized reasoning obfuscated assumptions that were lessindividualized and implicit.