Freedom and Reactance

Brehm's theory of psychological reactance in 1966 was the start of a psychological investigation into the consequences of losing freedom. First published in 1974, this book was written to capture the many directions taken by the theory since, and to integrate reactance theory with theoretical ideas that applied to some of the same phenomena

Robert A. Wicklund (1941-2020), at University of Texas at Austin, USA at time of original publication.

Preface. 1. Introduction to Reactance Theory and an Outline of Topics 2. Introduction to Social Influence 3. Strength of Threat to Freedom and Social Influence 4. Freedom and Social Influence 5. Importance of Freedom and Social Influence 6. Proportion of Freedom Threatened and Social Influence 7. Implication for Future Threat and Social Influence 8. Restoration of Freedom by Direct Social Intervention and by Social Comparison 9. Two Special Theoretical Issues Examined in the Context of Social Influence 10. Introduction to Barriers 11. Barrier Strength 12. Freedom and Barriers 13. Importance of Freedom and Barriers 14. Proportion of Freedom Threatened by Barriers 15. A Special Issues: The Difference Between Reactance and Frustration 16. Self-Imposed Threats to Freedom 17. Additional Meanings of Freedom and Questions for Reactance Theory. References. Author Index. Subject Index.