Psychological reactance is when people react in opposition to threats to their free will by standing up for themselves and seeing whatever freedom has been threatened as more attractive (Brehm & Brehm, 1981). In other words, is someone says you can’t do something (or feel or think something), your freedom is impinged upon, and as a response you might be more likely to try to do (or think or feel) whatever it is they say you can’t. The reverse is true as well.
As an example, I offer to you my 18th birthday personal rite of passage: climbing my hometown water tower.
A few months prior to my birthday I’d read a short novel by Pete Hautman called “Godless,” which is about a kid who becomes obsessed with water towers – among other things. Since reading it I couldn’t stop telling people about how awesome it was, and of course they all said the same thing, “Don’t go getting any crazy ideas about climbing water towers now Whitney.”
The more I heard about how dangerous, reckless, irresponsible, pointless, illegal, and just plain stupid it was, the more I wanted to do it. What sent me over the edge – of my decision to climb, not of the edge of the tower (that’d be tragic) – was when my brother Jonny acted as though there was no way I would ever do it. We were having a camp out at my house with a bunch of our friends and I was telling one of them about how I was finally going to climb the tower that night – because I was already outside and therefore wouldn’t have to take the added risk of sneaking out of the house – when my brother laughed. “You’re the good kid,” he said. “You don’t do bad stuff, let alone illegal stuff. You stay inside and do your homework where it’s safe. Besides you couldn’t even if you tried.”
“Couldn’t if I tried, eh?!” Those were the thoughts that ran through my head as I took the keys to his truck and drove off with the only one of his friends who seemed to think I would go through with it (or who cared enough to scrape my body off the pavement if I f-ed up).
Needless to say, I went through with it. The O and K in the middle of BROOKSHIRE look so much bigger from close up.
And, the my hometown looks so different from so high up.
I – like everyone else – want to be able to make my own decisions, to think and feel and do whatever it is that I desire. When someone – like my brother – threatens that, I am highly motivated to take matters into my own hands and maintain my freedom. The result is a negative attitude change, which is a move in the direction contrary to the one the speaker supported. Interestingly enough, had I agreed with my brother – that I was, in fact, a “good kid” who shouldn’t do illegal things – my motivation to protect my free will may have outweighed my actual opinion on the matter.
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Brehm, S. S., & Brehm, J. W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York: Academic Press.
1 comment:
Psychological Reactance really seems to be something that eats away at one's pride, and results in some bad decisions! I'm glad you were safe when you climbed the water tower, and I'm sure it was a great feeling when you completed the task and proved your brother, and everyone else, wrong. But in consideration of the possible consequences (arrest for trespassing, falling etc.), it seems like quite a risky activity just to protect your pride.
I have definitely experienced this rush of risk-taking behavior due to psychological reactance. My friends and I always went off-campus for lunch senior year, and I somehow ended up driving a lot. Piling six people in two-door car, we went racing off with no fear. They always challenged me to race other kids, and teased me for being too prude to do it. The day I finally decided to show them that I did whatever I wanted, I got my first speeding ticket. After that experience, it seems that keeping Psychological Reactance under control may be a pretty good investment of mental energy!
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