What is the theory of psychological reactance?
Reactance Theory Reactance is an unpleasant motivational arousal that emerges when people experience a threat to or loss of their free behaviors. It serves as a motivator to restore one’s freedom. The amount of reactance depends on the importance of the threatened freedom and the perceived magnitude of the threat.
Who created the reactance theory?
psychologist Jack Brehm
In 1966, psychologist Jack Brehm introduced his theory of reactance. He stated that people react strongly when freedom is being threatened. The term perceived freedom refers to the belief of the existence of freedom, like my belief that we could play with whatever ball we wanted.
What is reactance in psychology example?
Reactance sometimes occurs when a person makes a choice that cuts off other choices. For example, Charlie gets a certain amount of lunch money every day at school and can choose what he wants, but he can’t have it all.
What is psychological reactance in persuasion?
Reactance is an unpleasant motivational arousal (reaction) to offers, persons, rules, or regulations that threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms. Reactance can cause the person to adopt or strengthen a view or attitude that is contrary to what was intended, and also increases resistance to persuasion.
How do you combat psychological reactance?
Instead of flaking on commitments because of a knee-jerk feeling, you can change your perspective on the situation. Here’s a trick: To disarm psychological reactance, change the way you talk to yourself. Instead of thinking you “have to” do something, tell yourself you “get to” or even “deserve to” do it.
How do I lower my reactance?
Having a feeling of choice can reduce the sense that our freedoms are being taken away from us. Combine autonomy with certainty (above) by communicating the certitude of inevitable action while seeking out other areas where you can give back control. Being playful with your language has been shown to reduce reactance.
What is trait reactance?
Trait Reactance: A person’s inherent tendencies consistently perceive situations as threats to their freedom. 2. No matter how a message, request, or piece of advice might be framed, they will perceive it as a threat to their freedom, resulting in reactance.
How is psychological reactance treated?
Is reactance good or bad?
Reactance, unlike resistance, is usually undesirable in a circuit. Whereas resistance is created by a resistor to achieve some effect, reactance is an unfortunate by-product of certain electrical components.
What is the symbol for reactance?
Reactance is mathematically symbolized by the letter “X” and is measured in the unit of ohms (Ω).
Is psychological reactance bad?
This isn’t inherently bad—if people are too compliant, they’re vulnerable to manipulation. But psychological reactance can, at times, prevent us from doing things that we should do, sometimes even things we want to do. Most alarmingly, it can lead to self-sabotage.