Psychological reactance: what it is, effects, consequences and examples

The more something is imposed on us, the more we react strongly to this assault on our freedom. We react not only by denying it, but by adopting a contrary position. For example, if we try to get our child to stop going out with a friend we disapprove of, in all likelihood that particular friend will become even more likeable and interesting.

Likewise, if we try to get him to eat healthy foods, he may react by deliberately looking for less healthy options. This emotional reaction is known as psychological reactance and is not simple rebellion by itself. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about the Psychological reactance: what it is, effects, consequences and examples. Discover the consequences of someone imposing her ideas on you and that this leads you to adopt or reinforce the contrary ideas.

Index

1. What is reactance in psychology
2. Brehm's psychological reactance theory
3. Effects of psychological reactance
4. Consequences of psychological reactance
5. Examples of psychological reactance

The initial reaction when faced with uncontrollable results is not typically the feeling of acquired helplessness, but a greater motivation to recover our loss of control and freedom. Brehm coined the term psychological reactance to describe the motivational condition that is activated when we feel that our freedom of action is threatened somehow.

If you want to know more about this concept, in this article, we explain what is freedom and how to put it into practice.

Reactance theory is part of the field of social psychology and was developed by Jack Brehm in 1966 and extended to clinical psychology by Sharon Brehm in 1976. The concept of psychological reactance describes the motivational force that pushes to restore lost freedom or threatened to perform not being able to adopt the behavior that is freely desired.

Mainly, psychological reactance is manifested by not wanting to adhere to a command and adopting a behavior opposite to what is ordered. In these situations it is important to learn to make good use of freedom.

What are the most common psychological reactions of reactance? The ban makes us feel threatened in what we consider our right to choose and automatically activates the rebellion. For this reason, when faced with a threatening situation, we do not respect it, or even do the opposite of what they ask of us. This further intensifies the prohibited behavior.

What is forbidden becomes even more tempting. If before it was desirable but on a par with other options, now the fact of being prohibited suddenly makes it a priority and inalienable. We all know that we suddenly feel the full importance of something or someone at the moment when we are in danger of losing it or having it taken away from us.

According to this theory of psychological reactance, humans are deeply motivated by desire to feel responsible for ourselves and to be free from the rules and suggestions of others the rest. Thus, the psychological reaction caused by reactance predicts that if people believe that their freedom to choose how to live is being attacked or manipulated, they will feel a strong desire to react until the pressure is removed.

Psychological reactance can take many forms depending on the circumstances. Actions or objects that are restricted seem more valuable and interesting at a time when our access to them is threatened. For example, this type of emotional reaction can occur when we are too induced to accept an attitude or an opinion. In such situations, we assert our freedom by adopting the opposite point of view of the one they want to impose on us.

Particularly, this type of reaction can be easily observed in children, who are especially fascinated by toys or activities that are forbidden to them. Another example of psychological reactance can be found in adolescents, who often break parental rules precisely to symbolically reaffirm their freedom. If you want to know how to act in these cases, in this article you will see how to use reverse psychology on a child.

The reverse psychology that is applied in the theory of psychological reactance is very common and is used in many everyday situations. People tend to rebel when something is forbidden, a freedom is taken away, or they are told they are wrong.

Here are some examples of psychological reactance:

• Confinement of the population in their homes due to Covid-19: faced with the perceived threat of restriction of freedom from the pandemic, individuals adopt a behavior whose effects depend on the proportionality of the threat, the source of the threat, the duration of the deprivation and the coercive aspect of the request.
• boomerang effect: refers to the rejection of the position of the other by the person who is trying to persuade. This leads to this pressured person adopting a different behavior, but not necessarily contrary to what was originally intended.
• censorship effect: is a type of psychological reactance in which the censored object or behavior becomes much more attractive on the target than before its censorship. For example, in the story of Romeo and Juliet they are forbidden to go out and be together and this prohibition becomes the main reason that pushes them to be together.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Psychological reactance: what it is, effects, consequences and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of cognitive psychology.

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