Neural Bases of Psychological Reactance: An fMRI Study on Dogmatic and Suggestive Health-Related Advertising

This study aims to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of psychological reactance —a motivational state aroused when an individual perceives their freedom of choice is threatened— when unhealthy food eaters are exposed to two types of health-related message frames that differentially threaten individual autonomy: dogmatic (“You must…”) versus suggestive ones (“It would be a good idea to…”). By using both functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and self-reported measures, our study gives strong support to the Psychological Reactance Theory, such that dogmatic messages provoked stronger self-reported levels of anger and counterarguments (i.e., psychological reactance) which led increased activation in brain areas associated with such psychological mechanisms, namely the inferior frontal lobe, fusiform gyrus, anterior insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. In contrast, suggestive messages engage brain areas linked to reward and self-reference (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), suggesting greater persuasion. These results could suggest policymakers should incorporate self-relevant features in dogmatic messages to reduce persuasion resistance.