Background Information

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?” Brehm (1966). 

In response to these questions, Jack Williams Brehm offered his theory of psychological reactance. People resist other people's social influence because they are motivated by reactance, which is the desire to regain freedom after it has been taken away or threatened. Since Brehm's influential work on reactance in 1966, the phenomenon has garnered interest in both basic and applied research, with a profusion of reactance studies emerging in fields including education, politics, marketing, health, and marketing.

Reactance Theory

People generally believe that they have the freedom to do certain things, like engaging in so-called free behaviors. But occasionally, they find themselves unable to, or believe they are unable to, accomplish so. Reactance occurs when one's freedom to act as one pleases is threatened, as in the case of being coerced into purchasing a particular item at the grocery store, being made to pay tuition, being told not to use a cell phone in class, or being told to complete tasks assigned by superiors. When people feel that their free behaviors are in danger or are no longer possible, they become reactive, which is an unpleasant motivational arousal. Regaining one's freedom is motivated by it. Threats from within that one creates for oneself as a result of rejecting other options and selecting one. External threats come from attempts at social influence directed at a particular person or from impersonal situational factors that unintentionally create a barrier to an individual's freedom (Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981; Clee & Wicklund, 1980). Reactance is an unpleasant motivational state that leads to emotional experiences and behavioral and cognitive attempts to regain one's freedom. When someone feels threatened, they typically experience unease, hostility, aggression, and anger.