ABSTRACT
The theory of psychological reactance is a motivation theory that describes how people react to perceived constriction of their freedom to act. Reactance is the motivation to reestablish constricted or eliminated freedom to act. If reactance theory is correct, our foxes would have to ravenously dart toward the grapes and gobble them up. In experimental social psychology both theories have been tested. The results are not clear-cut. Obviously there are personality factors. Influence is a factor in communications campaigns, but is found in all forms of personal sales, in business conducted between commercial buyers and workers in the field, as well as in direct consumer sales. Reizenstein varied influence intensity in a fashion that did a good job of imitating a sales communication that might take place in a shop. It has important consequences for personnel politics: Personnel management that is associated with constriction of freedom is less successful than personnel management that comes off as less constricting of freedom.
