Reactance

Reactance describes an individual's resistance to attempts by others to place limits on their thoughts or behaviors. According to its associated theory, psychological reactance theory, people, media, and situations can all try to restrict cognitive and behavioral freedoms. In response to these restrictions, reactance motivates individuals to restore their freedoms directly or indirectly. In communication and media, much of the reactance research has focused on resistance to persuasive communication and message features that increase or decrease reactance responses. Other research in this area has focused on measurement issues, such as how to best measure the psychological state of reactance. Although a lot of progress has been made in the extant reactance literature, both on measurement issues and understanding antecedents of reactance, additional research is needed. Overall, reactance is a useful concept for understanding why individuals sometimes react negatively to both persuasive and nonpersuasive communication and media.