Abstract
Reactance theory was formulated to deal with certain phenomena of social influence (Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981; Wicklund, 1974). It held that people believe they have specific behavioral freedoms, and when those freedoms are threatened or eliminated in any way, the individual becomes motivated (reactance) to reinstate them.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abramson, L.Y., Metalsky, G.I., & Alloy, L.B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372.
Abramson, L.Y., Seligman, M.E.P., & Teasdale, J.D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.
Andersen, S.M. & Lyon, J.E. (1987). Anticipating undesired outcomes: The role of outcome certainty in the onset of depressive affect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 23, 428–443.
Atkinson, J.W. (1957). Motivational determinants of risk-taking behavior. Psychological Review, 64, 359–372.
Averill, J.R. (1973). Personal control over aversive stimuli and its relationship to stress. Psychological Bulletin, 80, 286–303.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.
Bandura, A., Reese, L., & Adams, N.E. (1982). Microanalysis of action and fear arousal as a function of differential levels of perceived self-efficacy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 5–21.
Bandura, A., Taylor, C.B., Williams, S.L., Mefford, I.N., & Barchas, J.D. (1985). Catecholamine secretion as a function of perceived coping self-efficacy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 406–414.
Barber, J.G. & Winefield, A.H. (1987). Three accounts of the learned helplessness effect. Genetic Social and General Psychology Monographs, 113, 143–163.
Brehm, J.W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York: Academic Press.
Brehm, J.W. & Cole, A.H. (1966). Effect of a favor which reduces freedom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 420–426.
Brehm, J.W. & Mann, M. (1975). Effect of importance of freedom and attraction to group members on influence produced by group pressure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 816–824.
Brehm, J.W. & Rozen, E. (1971). Attractiveness of old alternatives when a new, attractive alternative is introduced. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 261–266.
Brehm, J.W. & Self, E. (1989). The intensity of motivation. In M.R. Rozensweig & L.W. Porter (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, 40, 109–131.
Brehm, J.W., Stires, L.K., Sensenig, J., & Shaban, J. (1966). The attractiveness of an eliminated choice alternative. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2, 301–313.
Brehm, S.S. & Brehm, J.W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York: Academic Press.
Burger, J.M. (1989). Negative reactions to increases in perceived personal control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 246–256.
Cole, C.S. & Coyne, J.C. (1977). Situational specificity of laboratory-induced learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 615–623.
deCharms, R. (1968). Personal causation: The internal affective determinants of behavior. New York: Academic Press.
Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1024–1037.
Dienstbier, R.A. (1989). Arousal and physiological toughness: Implications for mental and physical health. Psychological Review, 96, 84–100.
Feldman-Summers, S. (1977). Implications of the buck-passing phenomenon for reactance theory. Journal of Personality, 45, 543–553.
Folkman, S. (1984). Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 839–852.
Gleicher, F. & Weary, G. (1991). Effect of depression on quantity and quality of social inferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 105–114.
Grabitz-Gniech, G., Auslitz, K., & Grabitz, H.J. (1975). Die Stärke des Reaktanz-Effektes als Funktion der absoluten Grösse und der relativen Reduktion des Freiheitsspielraumes. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 6, 122–128.
Hammock, T. & Brehm, J.W. (1966). The attractiveness of choice alternatives when freedom to choose is eliminated by a social agent. Journal of Personality, 34, 546–554.
Hiroto, D.S. & Seligman, M.E.P. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 311–327.
Janoff-Bulman, R. & Timko, C. (1987). Coping with traumatic events: The role of denial in light of people’s assumptive worlds. In C.R. Snyder & C.E. Ford (Eds.), Coping with negative life events (pp. 135–159). New York: Plenum.
Jardine, E. & Winefield, A.H. (1981). Achievement motivation, psychological reactance, and learned helplessness. Motivation and Emotion, 5, 99–113.
Kelley, H.H. (1971). Attribution in social interaction. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.
Klinger, E. (1975). Consequences of commitment to and disengagement from incentives. Psychological Review, 82, 1–25.
Kofta, M. (in press). Uncertainty, mental models, and learned helplessness: An anatomy of control loss. In G. Weary, F. Gleicher, & K.L. Marsh (Eds.), Control Motivation and Social Cognition. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Kuhl, J. (1981). Motivational and functional helplessness: The moderating effect of state vs. action-orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 155–170.
Langer, E.J. (1975). The illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 311–328.
Lefcourt, H.M. (1979). Locus of control for specific goals. In L.C. Perlmutter & R.A. Monty (Eds.), Choice and perceived control (pp. 209–220). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Linder, D.E. & Crane, K.A. (1970). A reactance theory analysis of predecisional cognitive processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 258–264.
Linder, D.E., Wortman, C.B., & Brehm, J.W. (1971). Temporal changes in predecision preferences among choice alternatives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19, 282–284.
Marsh, K.L. & Weary, G. (1989). Depression and attributional complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 325–336.
Mikulincer, M. (1988). Reactance and helplessness following exposure to unsolvable problems: The effects of attributional style. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 679–686.
Mikulincer, M. & Caspy, T. (1986). The conceptualization of helplessness: I. A phenomenological-structural analysis. Motivation and Emotion, 10, 263–278.
Mikulincer, M. & Nizan, B. (1988). Causal attribution, cognitive interference, and the generalization of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 470–478.
Miller, S.M. (1980). Why having control reduces stress: If I can stop the roller coaster I don’t want to get off. In J. Garber & M.E.P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications (pp. 71–95). New York: Academic Press.
Pittman, T.S. & D’Agostino, P.R. (1989). Motivation and cognition: Control deprivation and the nature of subsequent information processing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 465–480.
Rodin, J., Rennert, K., & Solomon, S.K. (1980). Intrinsic motivation for control: fact or fiction. In A. Baum & J.E. Singer (Eds.), Advances in environmental psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 131–148). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Roth, S. & Kubal, S. (1975). The effects of noncontingent reinforcement on tasks of differing importance: Facilitation and learned helplessness effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 680–691.
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J., & Snyder, S. (1982). Changing the world and changing the self: A two-process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 5–37.
Rotter, J.B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80, (1, Whole No. 609).
Rotter, J.B., Chance, J.E., & Phares, E.J. (1972). Applications of a social learning theory of personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Seligman, M.E.P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Sensenig, J. & Brehm, J.W. (1968). Attitude change from an implied threat to attitudinal freedom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 324–330.
Thompson, S.C. (1981). Will it hurt less if I can control it? A complex answer to a simple question. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 89–101.
Tiggemann, M. & Winefield, A.H. (1978). Situation similarity and the generalization of learned helplessness. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 30, 725–735.
Weiner, B. (1974). Achievement motivation and attribution theory. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.
White, R.W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297–333.
Wicklund, R.A. (1974). Freedom and reactance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wicklund, R.A. & Brehm, J.W. (1968). Attitude change as a function of felt competence and threat to attitudinal freedom. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 4, 64–75.
Wiedenfeld, S.A., O’Leary, A., Bandura, A., Brown, S., Levine, S., & Raska, K. (1990). Impact of perceived self-efficacy in coping with stressors on components of the immune system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1082–1094.
Wine, J. (1971). Test anxiety and direction of attention. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 92–104.
Winefield, A.H. & Norris, P.J. (1981). Effects of exposure to uncontrollable events as a function of achievement motivation and initial expectation of success. Motivation and Emotion, 5, 235–248.
Worchel, S. & Brehm, J.W. (1971). Direct and implied social restoration of freedom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18, 294–304.
Wortman, C.B. (1975). Some determinants of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 282–294.
Wortman, C.B. & Brehm, J.W. (1975). Responses to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration of reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press.
Wright, R.A. & Brehm, J.W. (1989). Energization and goal attractiveness. In L.A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp.169–210). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wright, R.A., Brehm, J.W., Crutcher, W., Evans, M.T., & Jones, A. (1990). Avoidant control difficulty and aversive incentive appraisals: Additional evidence of an energization effect. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 45–73.
Wright, R.A., Contrada, R.J., & Patane, M.J. (1986). Task difficulty, cardiovascular response, and the magnitude of goal valence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 837–843.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brehm, J.W. (1993). Control, Its Loss, and Psychological Reactance. In: Weary, G., Gleicher, F., Marsh, K.L. (eds) Control Motivation and Social Cognition. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8309-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8309-3_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8311-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-8309-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive