Reactance is one of the most common underlying causes of resistance. Reactance, a term coined by Brehm, is the reaction that occurs when a person feels their freedom of choice is threatened. Reactance can be especially troublesome for those attempting to gather information through interviews, such as mental health or law enforcement personnel. We explore resistance and reactance, and methods identified to ameliorate these phenomena when they arise during both clinical and forensic interviewing, such as the use of particular language construction, optimal eye contact, acknowledgment of resistance, providing limited and double-bind choices, and advancing the interview through affirmative comments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsR. B.GordonH. L.BairdA. A.AmbadyN.KleckR. E. (2003). Effects of gaze on amygdala sensitivity to anger and fear faces. Science, 300, 1536.
2.
AllenM. (1991). Meta-analysis comparing the persuasiveness of one-sided and two-sided messages. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 55, 390–404.
3.
ApothelozD.NowakowskaM. (2011). Deja en emploi justificatif. In CorminboeufG.BeguelinM. J. (Eds.), Du système linguistique aux actions langagières (pp. 249–261). Brussels, Belgium: De Boeck-Duculot.
4.
ArkowitzH. (2002). Toward an integrative perspective on resistance to change. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 219–227.
5.
ArmstrongJ. S. (2004). Advertising and the science of persuasion. Unpublished manuscript, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
6.
BaekT. H.YoonS.KimS. (2015). When environmental messages should be assertive: Examining the moderating role of effort investment. International Journal of Advertising, 34, 135–157.
7.
BeutlerL. E.MoleiroC.TalebiH. (2002). Resistance in psychotherapy: What conclusions are supported by research?Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(2), 207–217.
8.
BigiS. (2016). Communication skills for patient engagement: Argumentation competencies as means to prevent or limit reactance arousal, with an example from the Italian healthcare system. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 10.
9.
BradshawJ. W. S.NottH. M. R. (1995). Social and communication behaviour of companion dogs. In SerpellJ. (Ed.), The domestic dog: Its evolution, behaviour, and interactions with people (pp. 115–130). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
10.
BrehmJ. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York: Academic Press.
11.
BrintonL. J. (2001). From matrix clause to pragmatic marker: The history of look-forms. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 2(2), 177–199.
12.
BrocknerJ.GuzziB.KaneJ.LevineE.ShaplenK. (1984). Organizational fundraising: Further evidence on the effect of legitimizing small donations. Journal of Consumer Research, 11, 611–614
13.
BullerD. B.BorlandR.BurgoonM. (1998). Impact of behavioral intention on effectiveness of message features: Evidence from the family sun safety project. Human Communication Research, 24, 433–453.
14.
BurgerJ. M. (1986). Increasing compliance by improving the deal: The that's-not-all technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(2), 277–283.
15.
BushmanB. J. (1998). Effects of warning and information labels on consumption of full-fat, reduced-fat, and no-fat products. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 97–101.
16.
BushmanB. (2006). Effects of warning and information labels on attraction to television violence in viewers of different ages. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 2073–2078.
17.
CatramboneR.BeikeD.NiedenthalP. (1996). Is the self-concept a habitual referent in judgments of similarity?Psychological Science, 7(3), 158–163.
18.
ChartrandT. L.DaltonA. N.FitzsimonsG. J. (2007). Nonconscious relationship reactance: When significant others prime opposing goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 719–726.
19.
ChenF. S.MinsonJ. A.SchoneM.HeinrichsM. (2013). In the eye of the beholder: Eye contact increases resistance to persuasion. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2254–2261.
20.
ChoY. J.ThrasherJ. F.SwayampakalaK.YongH.-H.McKeeverR.HammondD.BorlandR. (2016). Does reactance against cigarette warning labels matter? Warning label responses and downstream smoking cessation amongst adult smokers in Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States. PLoS One, 11(7).
21.
CialdiniR. B. (2000). Influence: Science and practice. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
22.
CialdiniR. B.SchroederD. (1976). Increasing compliance by legitimizing paltry contributions: When even a penny helps. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 599–604.
23.
CialdiniR. B.VincentJ. E.LewisS. K.CatalanJ.WheelerD.DarbyB. L. (1975). Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), 206–215.
24.
ClarkM. S.MillsJ.CorcoranD. M. (1989). Keeping track of needs and inputs of friends and strangers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 533–542.
25.
ClineF. W.FayJ. (1990). Parenting with love and logic: Teaching children responsibility. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
26.
CoppolaV.GirandolaF. (2017). When increasing the strength of the argument becomes counterproductive: The role of argumentative markers in the arousal of the psychological reactance. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 1, 22.
27.
DavisB. P.KnowlesE. S. (1999). A disrupt-then-reframe technique of social influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(2), 192–199.
28.
DavisD.O’DonohueW. T. (2004). The road to perdition: “Extreme influence” tactics in the interrogation room. In O’DonohueW. T.LevenskyE. (Eds.) Handbook of forensic psychology (pp. 897–996). New York: Elsevier Academic Press.
29.
DillardJ. P. (1991). The current status of research on sequential-request compliance techniques. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(3), 283–288.
30.
DillardJ. P. (2014). Language, style, and persuasion. In HoltgravesT. M. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of language and social psychology (pp. 177–187). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
31.
DillardJ. P.ShenL. (2005). On the nature of reactance and its role in persuasive health communication. Communication Monographs, 72(2), 144–168.
32.
DonnellA. J.ThomasA.BuboltzW. C.Jr. (2001). Psychological reactance: Factor structure and internal consistency of the questionnaire for the measurement of psychological reactance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141(5), 679–687.
33.
DowdT. (2002). Resistance in cognitive therapy. In ScrimaliT.GrimaldiL. (Eds.), Cognitive psychotherapy toward a new millennium: Scientific foundations and clinical practice (pp. 187–189). New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.
34.
DowdE. T.WallbrownF.SandersD.YesenoskyJ. M. (1994). Psychological reactance and its relationship to normal personality variables. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 18, 601–612.
35.
EdmundsonM. (2010). The death of Sigmund Freud: The legacy of his last days. New York: Bloomsbury.
36.
EricksonM. H.RossiE. L. (1975). Varieties of double bind. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 17(3), 143–157.
37.
EricksonM. H.RossiE. L.RossiS. (1976). Hypnotic realities: The induction of clinical hypnosis and forums of indirect suggestion. New York: Irvington.
38.
FahnestockJ. (1998). Accommodating science: The rhetorical life of scientific facts. Written Communication, 15, 330–350.
39.
FennisB. M.DasE. H. H. J.PruynA. T.H. (2004). If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with nonsense: Extending the impact of the disrupt-then-reframe technique of social influence. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14(3), 280–290.
40.
FransenM. L.SmitE. G.VerleghP. W. (2015). Strategies and motives for resistance to persuasion: An integrative framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 12.
41.
FraserB. (1990). An approach to discourse markers. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 383–395.
42.
FreedmanJ. L.FraserS. C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 195–202.
43.
FreudS. (1955). Studies on hysteria. In StracheyJ. (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 2, pp. 1893–1895, 135–181). London: Hogarth Press.
44.
FurkoP. (2017). Manipulative uses of pragmatic markers in political discourse. Palgrave Communications, 3, 1–8.
45.
GollwitzerP. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54, 493–503.
46.
GollwitzerP. M.FujitaK.OettingenG. (2004). Planning and the implementation of goals. In BaumeisterR. F.VohsK. D. (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory and application (pp. 211–228). New York: Guilford Press.
47.
GrandpreJ. R.AlvaroE. M.BurgoonM.MillerC. H.HallJ. R. (2003). Adolescent reactance and anti-smoking campaigns: A theoretical approach. Health Communication, 15, 349–366.
48.
GreeneB. (2002). Get with the program: Getting real about your weight, health, and emotional well-being. New York: Simon & Schuster.
49.
GreenM. C.StrangeJ. J.BrockT. C. (Eds.). (2002). Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, Inc.
50.
GueguenN.PascualA. (2000). Evocation of freedom and compliance: The but you are free of … technique. Current Research in Social Psychology, 5(18), 264–269.
51.
HaugtvedtC. P.PettyR. E. (1992). Personality and persuasion: Need for cognition moderates the persistence and resistance of attitude changes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(2), 308–319.
52.
HigginsE. T. (1999). Promotion and prevention as a motivational duality: Implications for evaluative processes. In ChaikenS.TropeY. (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 503–525). New York: Guilford Press.
53.
HimmatPatilV. (2006). Appeals with negative emotions and strategies to reduce resistance to persuasion: An application in the context of charitable solicitations (Ph.D.). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Thesis Global. (305319480).
54.
HongS.-M.FaeddaS. (1996). Refinement of the Hong psychological reactance scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56(1), 173–182.
55.
HongS.-M.OstiniR. (1989). Further evaluation of Merz's psychological reactance scale. Psychological Reports, 64, 707–710.
56.
JacksJ. Z.O'BrienM. E. (2004). Decreasing resistance by affirming the self. In KnowlesE. S.LinnJ. A. (Eds.), Resistance and persuasion (pp. 235–257). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
57.
JarvellaR. J.LundquistR. (1994). Scales in the interpretation of words, sentences, and texts. Journal of Semantics, 11, 171–198.
58.
JarvellaR. J.MathieuS. (2000). On judging quantities in text without expert knowledge. In LundquistR.JarvellaR. J. (Eds.), Language, text and knowledge (pp. 261–284). New York, NY: Mouton De Gruyter.
59.
JolsonM. A. (1997). Broadening the scope of relationship selling. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 17, 75–88
60.
JonasE.GraupmannV. N.KayserD.ZannaM.Traut-MattauschE.FreyD. (2009). Culture, self, and the emergence of reactance: Is there a “universal” freedom?Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(5), 1068–1080.
61.
KamalskiJ.LentzL.SandersT.ZwaanR.A. (2008). The forewarning effect of coherence markers in persuasive discourse: Evidence from persuasion and processing. Discourse Processes, 45(6), 545–579.
62.
KatzS. J.ByrneS.KentA. I. (2016). Mitigating the perception of threat to freedom through abstraction and distance. Communications Research, 1, 24.
63.
KayJ. (1990). Even. Linguistics and Philosophy, 13, 59–111.
64.
KempE.CreyerE. H. (2007). Increasing persuasion, reducing resistance: Maximizing the efficacy of persuasive appeals for aesthetic product consumption. Advances in Consumer Research, 34, 337–339.
65.
KimS.LevineT.AllenM. (2013). Comparing separate process and intertwined models for reactance. Communication Studies, 64(3), 273.
66.
KleinkeC. L. (1986). Gaze and eye contact: A research review. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 78–100.
67.
KnowlesE. S.LinnJ. A. (2004). Approach-avoidance model of persuasion: Alpha and omega strategies for change. In KnowlesE. S.LinnJ. A. (Eds.), Resistance and Persuasion (pp. 117–148). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers.
68.
KnowlesE. S.RinerD. D. (2007). Omega approaches to persuasion: Overcoming resistance. In PratkanisA. R. (Ed.), The science of social influence (pp. 83–114). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
69.
KronrodA.GrinsteinA.WathieuL. (2012). Go green! Should environmental messages be so assertive?Journal of Marketing, 76, 95–102.
70.
LaVoieN. R.QuickB. L.RilesJ. M.LambertN. J. (2015). Are graphic cigarette warning labels an effective message strategy? A test of psychological reactance theory and source appraisal. Communication Research, 1, 21.
71.
LevinI. P.GaethG. J. (1988). How consumers are affected by the framing of attribute information before and after consuming the product. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(3), 374–378.
72.
LindseyL. L. M. (2005). Anticipated guilt as behavioral motivation: An examination of appeals to help unknown others through bone marrow donation. Human Communication Research, 31, 453–481.
73.
LinnJ. A.KnowlesE. S. (2002, May). Acknowledging target resistance in persuasive messages. Paper presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Convention, Chicago.
74.
MacLeodN.HaworthK. (2016). Developing a linguistically informed approach to police interviewing. In R. Lawson, & D. Sayers (Eds.), Sociolinguistic research: Application and impact (pp. 151–170). New York, NY: Routledge.
75.
MerzJ. (1983). Fragebogen zur Messung der Psychologischen Reaktanz [Questionnaire for Measuring Psychological Reactance. ]. Diagonistica, 29, 75–82.
76.
MesserS. B. (2002). A psychodynamic perspective on resistance in psychotherapy: Viva la resistance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 157–163.
77.
MichaelisL. A. (1996). On the use and meaning of already. Linguistics and Philosophy, 19, 477–502.
78.
MillerC. H. (2015). Persuasion and psychological reactance: The effects of explicit, high-controlling language. In: SchulzeR.PishwaH. (eds). The exercise of power in communication (p. 269–286). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
79.
MillerC. H.LaneL. T.DeatrickL. M.YoungA. M.PottsK. A. (2007). Psychological reactance and promotional health messages: The effects of controlling language, lexical concreteness, and the restoration of freedom. Human Communication Research, 33, 219–240.
80.
MironA. M.BrehmJ. W. (2006). Reactance theory – 40 years later. Zeitschrift Für Sozialpsychologie, 37, 9–18.
81.
MuravenM.BaumeisterR. F. (2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle?Psychological Bulletin, 126(2), 247–259.
82.
MussweilerT. (2002). The malleability of anchoring effects. Experimental Psychology, 49(1), 67–72.
83.
NavarroJ. (2008). What every body is saying. New York: HarperCollins.
84.
NewmanC. A. (2002). A cognitive perspective on resistance in psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 165–174.
85.
NesterkinD. A. (2013). Organizational change and psychological reactance. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(3), 573–594.
86.
PerlsF.HefferlineR.GoodmanP. (1951). Gestalt therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality. New York: Julian.
87.
PettyR. E.WegenerD. T. (1999). The elaboration likelihood model: Current status and controversies. In ChaikenS.TropeY. (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 37-72). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
88.
PettyR. E.WellsG. L.BrockT. C. (1976). Distraction can enhance or reduce yielding to propaganda: Thought disruption versus effort justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 874–884.
89.
QuickB. L. (2012). What is the best measure of psychological reactance? An empirical test of two measures. Health Communication, 27, 1–9.
90.
QuickB. L.ConsidineJ. R. (2008). Examining the use of forceful language when designing exercise persuasive messages for adults: A test of conceptualizing reactance arousal as a two-step process. Health Communication, 23, 483–491.
91.
QuickB. L.ShenL.DillardJ. P. (2013). Reactance theory and persuasion. In DillardJ. P.ShenL. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of persuasion: Advances in theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 167–183). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
92.
QuickB. L.StephensonM. T. (2007). Further evidence that psychological reactance can be modeled as a combination of anger and negative cognitions. Communication Research, 34, 255–276.
93.
QuickB. L.StephensonM. T. (2008). Examining the role of trait reactance and sensation seeking on perceived threat, state reactance, and reactance restoration. Human Communication Research, 34, 448–476.
94.
RainsS. (2013). The nature of psychological reactance revisited: A meta-analytic review. Human Communication Research, 39, 47–73.
95.
RothmanA. J.SaloveyP. (1997). Shaping perceptions to motivate healthy behavior: The role of message framing. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 3–19.
96.
RoweC. E. (1996). The concept of resistance in self psychology. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 50(1), 66–74.
97.
SagarinB. J.BrittM. A.HeiderJ. D.WoodS. E.LynchJ. E. (2003). Bartering Our Attention: The Distraction and Persuasion Effects of On-Line Advertisements. Cognitive Technology, 8(2), 4–17.
98.
SagristanoM. D.TropeY.LibermanN. (2002). Time-dependent gambling: Odds now, money later. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(3), 364–376.
99.
SantosM. D.LeveC.PratkanisA. R. (1994). Hey buddy, can you spare seventeen cents? Mindful persuasion and the pique technique. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(9), 755–764.
100.
SchimelJ.ArndtJ.PyszczynskiT.GreenbergJ. (2001). Being accepted for who we are: Evidence that social validation of the intrinsic self reduces general defensiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 35–52.
101.
SegrinC. (1993). The effects of nonverbal behavior on outcomes of compliance gaining attempts. Communication Studies, 44, 169–187.
102.
ShenL. (2014). Antecedents to psychological reactance: The impact of threat, message frame, and choice. Health Communication, 30, 975–985.
103.
ShenL.BigsbyE. (2013). The effects of message features: Content, structure and style. In DillardJ. P.ShenL. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of persuasion: Developments in theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 20–35). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
104.
ShermanS. J.CrawfordM. T.McConnellA. R. (2004). Looking ahead as a technique to reduce resistance to persuasive attempts. In KnowlesE. S.LinnJ. A. (Eds.), Resistance and persuasion (pp. 149–174). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
105.
ShohamV.TrostS. E.RohrbaughM. J. (2004). From state to trait and back again: Reactance theory goes clinical. In WrightR. A.GreenbergJ.BrehmS. S. (Eds.), Motivational analyses of social behavior: Building on Jack Brehm's contributions to psychology (pp. 167–185). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
106.
SeibelC. A.DowdE. T. (2001). Personality characteristics associated with psychological reactance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57, 963–969.
107.
SittenthalerS.JonasE.Traut-MattauschE. (2016). Explaining self and vicarious reactance: A process model approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(4), 458–470.
108.
SittenthalerS.Traut-MattauschE.SteindlC.JonasE. (2015). Salzburger State Reactance Scale (SSR Scale): Validation of a scale measuring state reactance. Zeitschrift Fur Psychologie, 223(4), 257–266.
109.
Snoeck-HenkemansF. (2010). “Anyway”. And “Even” as indicators of complex argumentation. Cogency: Journal of Reasoning and Argumentation, 2, 81–94.
110.
TropeY.LibermanN. (2000). Temporal construal and time-dependent changes in preference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 876–889.
111.
TuckerR. K.ByersP. Y. (1987). Factorial validity of Merz's psychological reactance scale. Psychological Reports, 61, 811–815.
112.
Van GerrevinkR.de HoopH. (2007). On the optimal use of almost and barely in argumentation. In AloniM.DekkerP.RoelofsenF. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th Amsterdam Colloquium (pp. 229–235). Amsterdam, Netherlands: ILLC, University of Amsterdam.
113.
VrijA.MeissnerC. A.FisherR. P.KassinS. M.MorganC. A.IIIKleinmanS. M. (2017). Psychological perspectives on interrogation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(6), 927–955.
114.
WaltonS. (1992). Sam Walton: Made in America. New York: Bantam Books.
115.
WagnerH. S.HowlandM.MannT. (2015). Effects of subtle and explicit health messages on food choice. Health Psychology, 34, 79–82.
116.
WegnerD. M. (1989). White bears and other unwanted thoughts: Suppression, obsession and the psychology of mental control. New York: Penguin Books.
117.
WellmanJ. A.GeersA. L. (2009). Rebel without a (conscious) cause: Priming a nonconscious goal for psychological reactance. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31(1), 9.
118.
WernerC. M.StollR.BirchP.WhiteP. H. (2002). Clinical validation and cognitive elaboration: Signs that encourage sustained recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24(3), 185–203.
119.
WicklundR. A. (1974). Freedom and reactance. Potomac, MD: Lawrence Erlbaum.
120.
WilliamsK. D.DolnikL. (2001). Revealing the worst first: Stealing thunder as a social influence strategy. In ForgasJ. P.WilliamsK. D. (Eds.), Social influence: Direct and indirect processes (pp. 213–231). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
121.
WinterP. L.SagarinB. J.RhoadsK.BarrettD. W.CialdiniR. B. (2000). Choosing to encourage or discourage: Perceived effectiveness of prescriptive versus proscriptive messages. Environmental Management, 26(6), 589–594.
122.
WintersteinG.SchadenG. (2011). Relevance and utility in an argumentative framework: An application to the accommodation of discourse topics. In LecomteA.TronconS. (Eds.), Ludics, dialogue and interactions (pp. 134–146). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
123.
WolfS.MontgomeryD. A. (1977). Effects of inadmissible evidence and level of judicial admonishment to disregard on the judgments of mock juries. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 7, 205–219.
124.
ZillmannD.BrosiusH. (2000). Exemplification in communication: The influence of case reports on the perceptions of issues. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
