Researchers have an answer to the question wives have been asking their husbands since their first day of marriage, “Why do you always seem to disagree with me or want to do the opposite of what I want?” The answer is: reactance, otherwise known as a person’s tendency to resist social influences that they perceive as threats to their autonomy.The research appears in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and shows that people do not necessarily oppose others’ wishes intentionally. Instead, even the slightest unconscious exposure to the name of a significant person in their life is enough to bring about reactance and cause them to rebel against that person’s wishes.
“My husband, while very charming in many ways, has an annoying tendency of doing exactly the opposite of what I would like him to do in many situations,” said Tanya L. Chartrand, an associate professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. The interest into this question began with Chartrand’s desire to understand why her husband often seemed to ignore her requests for help around the house.
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