Why are self-confident blowhards so often believed? Why are experts so often ignored? A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review.
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The failure of realizing attitudinal or behavioral change by persuasive attempts is often attributed to bad message design, inappropriate use of communication strategies, or detrimental characteristics of the source. However, it has been acknowledged more and more that message receivers may also play an important role in accounting for the absence of attitudinal and behavioral change. Upon exposure to a persuasive message, people may experience psychological reactance because persuasive messages are perceived as a threat to freedom. This experience of psychological reactance often motivates people to adopt strategies that help them in resisting persuasion. Studying psychological reactance and strategies used to resist persuasive attempts is important in gaining a comprehensive understanding of persuasion processes. It may help explain, for example, why many health, marketing, and political campaigns fail to obtain the anticipated effects. This article provides an overview of theoretical and empirical literature regarding reactance and resistance toward persuasion. First, psychological reactance and resistance toward persuasion will be defined. Then, strategies that audiences adopt in resisting persuasion will be addressed, followed by techniques that may help audiences to resist persuasion. Moreover, related variables such as persuasion knowledge and skepticism will be discussed, and the article ends with a section on overcoming resistance by narrative persuasion. Several books, book chapters, empirical articles, and theoretical articles have been written on the nature and effects of psychological reactance and resistance. McGuire 1964, on inoculation theory, was one of the first works to discuss the topic of resistance toward persuasion, defining it as a person’s ability to withstand a persuasive attack. McGuire was particularly interested in the question of how to increase resistance toward persuasion. Brehm 1980 proposes and discusses the (more general) theory of psychological reactance. This theory offers an explanation for people’s motivation to resist persuasion. Psychological reactance is defined as a motivational state that one experiences upon threats to attitudinal and behavioral freedoms. It is argued that any message aimed at changing one’s attitudes or behavior is perceived as a threat to freedom because it limits or eliminates freedom of choice (Brehm and Brehm 1981). This experienced threat of freedom often motivates people to restore their freedom by resisting the persuasive message. Burgoon, et al. 2002 provides an excellent overview of research on reactance theory in the field of communication. Clee and Wicklund 1980, a theoretical article, addresses the many applications for reactance theory, particularly for the field of consumer behavior. Other motivations for resistance are discussed in Jost 2015 and Knowles and Riner 2007. A more detailed overview on how people actually resist persuasion and how resistance can be overcome can be found in Fransen, et al. 2015b and Knowles and Linn 2004. In Knowles and Linn 2004, resistance toward persuasion is discussed from several perspectives and offers an overview of research that is conducted in this field. Fransen, et al. 2015a provides an overview of different resistance strategies and relates them to the different motives people might have to resist persuasion. In van’t Riet and Ruiter 2013 resistance strategies in the context of health communication are discussed. In Friestad and Wright 1994, the authors’ Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) proposes that people develop persuasion knowledge about the tactics and strategies marketers use in their persuasive attempt. They explain how this knowledge provides message recipients with control over the persuasive situation, which may subsequently foster resistance toward the message.
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