Resistance is not sufficient evidence of reactance. People can reject a message for substantive reasons without experiencing threatened freedom. Diagnosis must identify the relevant freedom and pressure, examine restoration motives, and consider alternatives rather than using an audience’s refusal as both the cause and proof.
- Entry typeRelated entry
- FromPsychological Reactance (model)
- Category of its source unitTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainPersuasion & Argument
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Entry type
Related entry
Related entries name an idea, effect or practice that belongs to a model or tool of the series. They are not models or tools themselves and are not counted as such; each one leads to the model or tool it comes from, and to its Executive Insight Brief.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.