Reactance Theory

     I’m sure we can all come up with a time when Mom, Dad, Grandma, or teacher told you not to do something and of course all we want to do is that forbidden behavior. It seems like human nature if someone tells us no, that we feel controlled and want to rebel. This is formally known as the reactance theory which states that the more you restrain a person from their freedoms, the more they are going to want to do that activity to lessen the feeling of being threatened. This can be a crucial theory for parents to be aware of. When dealing with their kids parents should know that the more they emphasize not to do something, the more their child will want to do it.

      Millions of examples pop into my head when referring to the reactance theory but the one that sticks out is telling my younger brother NOT to touch my project.  A little background information to this story is that I got assigned a project in high school for my final project weeks in advance to make sure the project was well done. I had planned out my project since the very beginning and had a vision in my head. It was going to take a lot of work, but it was worth it. I slowly started gathering my materials, researching my facts and laying out the groundwork for the project. The whole house knew what I was working on and how big of a deal it was to me at the time. I set up my work station in my room knowing that if I left it in the living room it would get trampled on by my dog. After hours of working on this project is was coming together and was turning out pretty good. I told my younger brother to stay away from my project and if anything at all happened to it he was going to pay. He laughed and I should have paid more attention to that devilish look in his eyes. It was the next day when I got home from school that I walk into my nightmare. My project was missing half its roof! Who could do such a thing?! It took me only a few short moments to know who could have done it, my younger brother. He just had to do something to my project because he knew he was not allowed anywhere near it, and that feeling of restrain was eating at him. By ripping off half the roof it lessened the tension he was feeling but it created more than just tension in me. If I had been aware of this reactance theory at the time I would have used psychology to my advantage and not said a word about my project, but unfortunately I was half a roof too late.