Reactance, autonomy and paths to persuasion: Examining perceptions of threats to freedom and informational value
By L. Pavey, Paul Sparks. 2009
98 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Autonomy, often associated with an open and reflective evaluation of experience, is sometimes confused with reactance, which indicates resistance to persuasion attempts. Two studies examined a path model in which autonomy and reactance predicted motivation following the provision of anonymous or source-identified health-risk information, via the mediation of perceived threat to decision-making freedom and of perceived informational value. Study 1 (N = 122) investigated alcohol consumption. The results showed that autonomy was positively related to autonomous motivation and intentions to drink responsibly. Reactance negatively predicted autonomous motivation in the source-identified information condition but positively predicted autonomous motivation and intentions in the anonymous information condition. Reactance negatively predicted attitudes through the mediation of perceived threat to decision-making freedom. Study 2 (N = 145) tested our hypothesized model for smoking behavior and replicated several of the Study 1 findings. Implications for our understanding of autonomy, reactance, and responses to risk-information are discussed.
Subfields: Applied Psychology, Literature and Literary Theory, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0e8c3f1d3daefe96ecb2a7c9a3fb8f856f81584e
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In Applied Psychology
In Literature and Literary Theory
In Sociology and Political Science
- Birgitta Gatersleben
- Niamh Murtagh
- Cass R. Sunstein
- David Uzzell
- Dan Kahan
- L. Steg
- R. Gifford
- David Lois
Citations in the corpus
- Self-identity threat and resistance to change: Evidence from regular travel behaviour (2012, background): “Individuals may vary on trait reactance, that is, a generalised tendency to non-compliance or to resist influence and advice from others (Pavey & Sparks, 2009).”
- Nudges that fail (2017, background): “Most work on the subject of reactance explores how people rebel against mandates and bans, because they wish to maintain control (Brehm & Brehm, 1981; Pavey & Sparks, 2009).”