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Subject variables and reactance to persuasive communications about drugs
Author(s) -
Kohn Paul M.,
Barnes Gordon E.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420070108
Subject(s) - reactance , persuasion , psychology , social psychology , evening , mediation , subject (documents) , persuasive communication , authoritarianism , physics , quantum mechanics , voltage , astronomy , politics , law , democracy , library science , political science , computer science
The role of three subject variables in the mediation of reactance to pro‐ and anti‐LSD messages was investigated: sex, authoritarianism, and suspiciousness that the purpose of the experiment was to study persuasion. No reactance effect occurred reliably either overall or in any subgroup of subjects for the anti‐LSD message which supported the initial views of most subjects (evening‐division undergraduates). In the pro‐LSD case, reactance effects occurred among highly suspicious male subjects only. It was suggested that reactance could be a responce to perceived threat from the experimenter rather than, or as well as the communicator, and that male and female subjects responded to such threat in accordance with their culturally prescribed roles.