Reactance (psychology)

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Psychological reactance is a complex defense reaction that can be understood as a resistance to external or internal restrictions. Reactance is usually triggered by psychological pressure (e.g. coercion, threats, emotional argumentation) or the restriction of freedom of action (e.g. prohibitions, censorship). Reactance in the strict sense of the word does not refer to the behavior triggered, but to the underlying motivation or attitude .

Reactance is typically based on the "stimulus of the forbidden". It is similar to defiance , but it can also arise for reasons other than the curtailment of freedom.

Reactance and reactant behavior

Typical of the reactance is an upgrading of the eliminated alternative , i. H. it is precisely those freedoms that have been taken away from the person that are now experienced as particularly important. The person concerned may have previously been completely unimportant of the action concerned. In the extreme case, the person never made use of this option before the restriction occurred, but has taken the action since the restriction occurred. Reactive behavior consists in carrying out such actions even more . In this way, the person concerned would like to enforce these freedoms (even if this may no longer be possible).

On the other hand, a very strong or no longer changeable restriction of freedom of action can also lead to alternative freedoms that have a similar status but are not affected by the restriction. In this way, the reactant can regain the feeling of control and thus his ability to act.

Examples

  • Sell-out ⇒ the goods appear more desirable with increasing scarcity than before.
  • Raising children ⇒ "the food / drink (e.g. cola) is not for you, you are still too small" leads in many cases to "now I want to eat / drink it anyway".
  • Health campaigns ⇒ Improvement of cannabis consumption in anti-drug campaigns, smokers feel safe from bans or similar. discriminated against or patronized

Theory of reactance

The problem area was extensively investigated by Jack W. Brehm (1928–2009) in 1966 in his theory of reactance . Brehm's research results have found their way into work psychology and sales psychology in particular . Reactance, together with lethargy (based on the theory of learned helplessness from Martin Seligman , 1986) and overconformity, is one of the three most important reaction patterns to external pressure or restrictions.

Occurrence of reactance

According to Wicklund (1974) reactance behavior occurs particularly when

  • External attempts to influence the change or control of attitudes take place [active social influence from outside] or
  • Barriers are erected [passive outside social influence] or
  • there is a compulsion to choose between different alternatives [active / passive disability from within].

Strength of reactance

The strength of the reactance depends on the following factors:

  • Extent of the subjective loss of freedom: The greater the number of threatened or eliminated decision alternatives, the stronger the reactance.
  • Strength of the restriction of freedom: The greater the threat to freedom (possibly threatened, severely threatened, lost forever, etc.), the stronger the reactance.
  • Importance of restricted freedom: The reactance is all the greater:
    • the greater the instrumental value of the threatened behavior in order to achieve a certain goal;
    • the greater the strength of the corresponding need.
  • The expectation of being able to achieve a certain goal.

Specific effects of reactance

In general, Brehm differentiates between subjective effects, which are not directly expressed in observable behavior and therefore cannot be controlled by the environment, and behavioral effects. However, these often contain antisocial reactions that are negatively sanctioned. Therefore, under certain circumstances, only subjective, but no behavioral effects occur.

In detail, the main classes of reactions are:

  • Direct restoration of freedom through appropriate behavioral actions:
    • most effective type of reactance reduction,
    • but often not possible because of negative sanctions or the irreversible elimination of freedom.
  • Indirect restoration of freedom through behavior that is as similar as possible to the one lost.
  • Aggression , which can be differentiated into:
  • Changes in attractiveness: As a cognitive strategy to reduce dissonance , the attractiveness of the lost freedom is devalued.

Experiment: the sour grape effect

The experiment originally described by Brehm proceeded as follows: two test groups were asked to evaluate different records over the course of two days. The people in one group were told that they could choose a record as a reward for participating at the end . The people in the other group received the information that they reward one of the plates allocated would get. On the second day of the experiment, both groups received the information that two of the four records were no longer available.

In the group that was allowed to choose a record, the rating of the eliminated alternative rose significantly (reactance). In the other group, however, it fell (acid-grape effect). The origin of the effect is interpreted as follows: The plate, which is now inaccessible, could in principle have been assigned to the participants in the second group. The elimination of this uncontrollable alternative creates cognitive dissonance . This can easily be reduced by evaluating the eliminated alternative as less preferable. A virtual sense of loss is minimized, so to speak.

The term sour grape effect refers to a fable by Aesop, The Fox and the Grapes .

Integration model of helplessness and reactance

According to Wortmann and Brehm (1975), reactance and learned helplessness relate to comparable situations. According to them, the loss of freedom of reactance theory can be equated with the uncontrollability component of helplessness theory. With regard to the consequences of the experience of uncontrollability, reactance and helplessness theory differ considerably: in reactance theory, the individual responds to loss of control e.g. B. with appreciation or aggression, while according to the helplessness theory, withdrawal and passivity are expected. Wortmann and Brehm integrated these forms of reaction in a common model. According to this, brief experiences of uncontrollability with the simultaneous existence of a higher-level control expectation lead to reactance behavior, while persistent uncontrollable experiences without higher-level control expectations lead to helplessness effects.

A very similar effect can be explained against the same background, but is not part of the integration model according to Wortmann and Brehm: If a test person expects to find himself in a situation in which his freedoms will be restricted due to past reactance experiences, this can also be used for upgrading the remaining options for action. This principle can be used, for example, to explain bargain hunting in retail, if not even shopping addiction per se. An actually occurring lack of freedom of action does not have to occur at all, since only its imaginability determines action.

Prohibitions from the past of the individual as well as assessments adopted from communication with other people certainly have a certain significance in such a phenomenon. There is hardly any other explanation why group dynamic effects arise when, for example, people scramble for goods at rummaging tables where there is never a lack of supply.

The opposite effect in the sense of learned helplessness can be observed when a test person cannot make a choice not only in an oversupply, but also not in the event of a foreseeable shortage, which can lead to personal distress. Such a situation is legally interpreted as disorientation and, with the application of social legislation, leads to care , which acts as an actual, temporary curtailment of freedoms for the benefit of the person being cared for.

Both of the above Effects are described here using easily comprehensible behaviors when handling material goods. However, their occurrence is no less likely when dealing with ideal goods , which results in the political relevance of the thought model.

Sufficient connections with the above Integration models have not yet been proven.

Areas of application

Mediation

If a certain restriction of behavior is required in a mediation , reactant behavior can impair a successful solution of the mediated conflict . Here, too, the possibility of participation and an understanding of the legitimacy of the restriction of behavior is an opportunity to reduce reactance.

Work and trade psychology

In connection with restructuring in companies , entire departments can react if they are not sufficiently taken into account or questioned when introducing new technologies . To avoid such effects are an appropriate information policy , a participation of the departments concerned and, if necessary, a training of the staff required. These measures - provided they are carried out well - can demonstrably reduce reactance as well as learned helplessness or overconformity. The opportunity to participate has proven to be particularly important.

Since the everyday behavior of the customers of retail companies is often influenced by reactance, if not determined, commercial management studies , in particular its branch of retail psychology , are dedicated to this phenomenon. If a customer feels that his freedom of choice between different articles is threatened (“while stocks last”, “sold” notice on a shop window display, etc.), he will try to reduce the state of tension in which he has come to and to restore the state of freedom as well as the to upgrade threatened or lost alternatives. "All sorts of things can happen in this attempt: Active efforts to find the inaccessible article, 'now more than ever', aggression, defiance, anger, devaluation or avoidance of business." (Schenk, p. 34)

psychotherapy

The reactance is not an explicit topic in many therapy directions, although it is in all cases in which external motivation plays a role - child and adolescent psychotherapy and all therapies brought about by (judicial or other) conditions, such as. B. drug therapy or forensic psychiatry - must be considered. Directions that implicitly use reactance to facilitate change are as follows:

Literary examples of reactant behavior

A famous example from literature is an episode from Tom Sawyer . Tom does all sorts of nonsense. One day he is ordered to paint the house fence.

When the first friend strolls past Tom, the mockery is of course inevitable. Tom is not impressed: who wants to swim when he gets the chance to paint a fence! With all possible enthusiasm, Tom Sawyer delves into the work, applies a brushstroke here, eyes a spot that has not yet been perfectly painted. His friend Ben is incredulous, becomes curious and asks if he might not be able to paint a bit too. Tom Sawyer looks at him skeptically and doubts whether Ben can do the job well enough, since his Aunt Polly is very critical of such things. Ben gets nervous and offers Tom an apple. Tom squirms a little, finally he agrees. At the end of the day, he convinced several of his friends that they want nothing more than to paint that fence.

He gave his friend an option to spend his free time that he would not have considered voluntarily - if it hadn't been so difficult to achieve. Only when Tom referred to his critical aunt and thereby implicitly implied that only the best would be able to accomplish such a task, he was able to convince Ben. What's more, the friend even paid to do the job. Painting the fence seemed very special now - and the fact that Aunt Polly didn't let everyone do the job only made the option more attractive. The act of painting a fence was suddenly an exclusive option.

The story of Romeo and Juliet can also be interpreted in terms of reactance theory. The prohibition and the social restrictions that determine their freedom of choice with regard to a partner make them all the more attractive to one another and motivate them to seek out the forbidden (“Romeo and Juliet effect”). So, despite the tragic end, they restored their freedom (or perhaps just an illusion of this freedom ), but paid for it with their lives and thus deprived themselves of any further freedom.

See also

Scarcity principle

literature

  • Jack W. Brehm: Theory of psychological reactance , New York, Academic Press, 1966
  • Jack W. Brehm et al .: The attractivness of an eliminated choice alternative , Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2, 301-313, 1966.
  • MB Mazis et al .: Elimination of phosphate detergents and psychological reactance , Journal of Marketing Research, 10, 390-395, 1973
  • RA Wicklund et al .: Effects of implied pressure toward commitment on ratings of choice alternatives , Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 6, 449-457, 1970.
  • MA Clee, RA Wicklund: Consumer behavior and psychological reactance , Journal of Consumer Research, 6 (1980), 389-405.
  • D. Dickenberger, G. Gniech, HJ Grabitz: The theory of psychological reactance , in Frey, D. & Irle, M. (Ed.), Theorien der Sozialpsychologie , Vol. 1. Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, Göttingen, Toronto, Seattle 2002.
  • Brehm & Brehm: Psychological Reactance. A Theory of Freedom and Control . New York: Academic Press 1981.
  • Jack W. Brehm: Control, Its Loss, and Psychological Reactance , in: Weary, Gleicher, Marsh (Ed.), Control Motivation and Social Cognition . Springer, Heidelberg 1993
  • Grabitz-Gniech, Grabitz: Psychological reactance: Theoretical concept and experimental investigations . Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 4 (1973), pp. 19-35
  • Crawford, McConnell, Lewis, Sherman: Reactance, Compliance, and Anticipated Regret . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 38 (2002), pp. 56-63
  • Miron, Brehm: Reactance Theory - 40 Years Later . Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 1 (2006), 9-18
  • H.-O. Schenk: Psychologie im Handel , 2nd edition, Munich-Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58379-3
  • Schwarzer (2000). Stress, anxiety and action regulation . Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 166-173
  • Harald Martenstein : Mainstream. The pull of the crowd . Zeit Online (November 14, 2011) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Reactance Effect or: Why Health Campaigns Can Fail | Issue 4/2016 - 4/2016 | In-Mind. Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
  2. ^ VE Frankl: Theory and Therapy of the Neuroses , in: The human being before the question of meaning . Munich, 11th edition 1999, pp. 118 ff.