“Why is it that a child sometimes does the opposite of what he is told? Why would a person sometimes dislike receiving a favor? Why is propaganda frequently ineffective in persuading people? And why would the grass in the adjacent pasture ever appear greener?”
-Jack Williams Brehm
When people go to a museum and the sign saying “do not touch” catches their eye, the first instinct they have is to touch the particular piece at any cost. Even if they were not planning on exhibiting this behavior earlier on, simply being forbidden to do so creates an itch in them to do the exact opposite of what they are being told to do. It is a prime example of reactance which acts as a motivational force to restore behavioral freedom that has been threatened or eliminated.
In simple words, reactance is actually a reaction that is exhibited by a person towards people, offers or rules when they feel that a person or object is hindering their free behavior or limiting their available options.
The threat could be perceived or actual but to the person, it would seem real and they would act accordingly. Since reactance is a motivator, it enables the person to recapture or protect their free behavior that is under target from someone or something.
Reactance only occurs towards particular behavior that is threatening or eliminated, it does not apply to the general concept of freedom of the person. It generally tends to spring forward if an immediate free behavior is being hindered.
The level of resistance depends upon the importance of the behavior, the magnitude of inhibition, source of threat or elimination and perceived impact of the threat.
If the behavior being targeted is considered to be essential by the individual, reactance will be more in intensity and it will continue over a long period of time. The source of threat or elimination can be internal (personal) or external (social pressure & situational).
Personal threats are always imposed by the individual and surface due to the act of choosing between alternatives and dismissing others. External threats can be divided into situational and social factors. Situational factors happen because of circumstances and are not initiated by any human being. The social threat comes from other people and if the magnitude of the threat is high i.e. It threatens not one, but a set of related free behaviors, the intensity of reactance increases accordingly. Another social cause that might elicit reactance is dogmatic language. The authoritarian or controlling language is often the reason that a person might feel that their free behaviors are under threat and they try to reassert their freedom via different means.
According to the subjective experience of the person, they are not aware of the reactance but the fact is that it has its effects in terms of cognition, behavior, and emotion. Behaviorally, reactance can be seen in the form of aggression i.e. They might perform aggressive actions to manage their anger, they might try to forcefully get their freedom back by threatening the person who tried to eliminate their free behavior or they might immediately perform the restricted behavior and restore their freedom. The behaviors that are mentioned here are mostly accompanied by emotions such as anger and unease of a certain level.
Cognitively, the reaction might cause the person to completely dismiss the source of threat and rebuff all the restrictions placed upon them. They might react by reasserting not only their eliminated behavior, but also upgrading other related free behaviors. If an alternative is imposed upon them, they might reject it on the premises that it is not as attractive as the original free behavior.
Reactance is most commonly and frequently seen in children and adolescents when they are restricted from any behavior by their parents or authority figure. When a child exhibits reactance, parents tend to label them problematic, but what they need to understand is that the reason behind their behavior is that they feel threatened at a certain level. The frequency of reactance in adults might be a bit less, but it comes up nonetheless.
Reactance is a common occurring human reaction, but it is not a state as it comes up in reaction to a real or perceived threat. Reactance is often countered with reverse psychology i.e. If it is known that a person generally tends to exhibit reactance and does the exact opposite of what they are told, they can be made to comply by instructing them to do the complete opposite of the real targeted behavior. Reactance is considered to be troublesome as it provokes disagreeable behavior, especially in terms of therapy as it propels the client to be unreactive and unstimulated by the techniques used by the therapist.
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