Psychological reactance, a theory pioneered by the late Jack Brehm,  is based on the idea that humans tend to respond negatively to restrictions on their autonomy or freedom of choice.?

Brehm summed up the theory as follows:

Reactance is basically the idea that if you tell someone they “must” or “need” to do something, they are more inclined to do the opposite. 

Take this example from Sharon Lindle, a writer at Study.com:

When I was in grade school, the girls were given a red ball to play with and the boys were given a yellow one. The teachers were very clear that these balls were to stay with the intended group and would come out every so often to check up on us. Even though the balls were exactly the same, we felt a strong urge to trade them out. In fact, we spent so much time and energy switching balls and monitoring the door watching for a teacher (so we could switch back in time), that I suspect we had little actual play time. Why did we do this?

 

The answer lies in what is referred to as reactance theory. This theory states that when people are restricted in some way they feel a strong need to resist and fight back to gain their freedom. Just as we traded the playground balls, people who are told not to do something often feel an urge to do the very thing they’re denied.

It occurred to me that reactance theory might help explain the highly surprising rise of Donald Trump.

Dr. Simon Moss, a psychology lecturer at Charles Darwin University, points out that reactance is observed as a response to dogmatic language. These include:

  • Threatening warnings rather than merely impartial, objective information?

See where I am going here?

pointed outWe live, of course, during a time when people are increasingly told what they can and cannot say (see: here, here, and here).

Does this—society telling people they cannot express an opinion they feel they have a right to share—help explain the rise of Trump, a man who has gained a reputation for saying things (many of which make me wince) that he is not supposed to say?

Many pundits and political leaders in Trump’s own party have implied that polite Americans can’t (there’s that word again) vote for Trump precisely for this reason.

Could this suggestion perhaps only be reinforcing the (possible) reactance? It’s just a theory. I’ll be curious what readers have to say.

Jon MiltimoreIntellectual TakeoutFacebook.

[Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore-Flickr | CC BY 2.0