Revisiting the Theory of Psychological Reactance: Communicating Threats to Attitudinal Freedom

The potential of peer social norms to shape food intake in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of effects and moderators

“…Adolescents and young adults are generally considered to be especially sensitive to what they consider intrusions regarding their decisional freedom, and are therefore also thought to be particularly prone to feelings of psychological reactance (Burgoon, Alvaro, Grandpre, & Voulodakis, 2002;Miller, Lane, Deatrick, Young, & Potts, 2007). In developing social norm interventions it therefore seems prudent to keep in mind that injunctive norm messages may not always lead to the desired effect in adolescents, and that norm messages are best presented in a subtle manner.…”

Framing and Editing Interpersonal Arguments

“…Finally, in this study we include psychological reactance (Brehm 1966), an under-appreciated variable (Burgoon et al 2002). Reactance refers to one's impulse to resist and counter when pressured.…”

Is There Backlash to Social Pressure? A Large-scale Field Experiment on Voter Mobilization

“…In social psychology, the tendency for people to push back in response to forceful messages designed to change their behavior has informed theories of reactance (Brehm 1966;Brehm and Brehm 1981). Reactance theory explains that individuals with a negative response to a message may ignore it (Burgoon et al 2002;Stewart and Martin 1994), perform the opposite of the behavior advocated (Worchel and Brehm 1970;Ringold 2002;Schultz 1999), or attack the source of the message. Further, more forceful messages about changing behavior are more likely to elicit reactance (Miller et al 2007;Dillard and Shen 2005;Albarracin et al 2003;Grandpre et al 2003).…”