Measuring psychological reactance in a group setting.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of interpersonal setting on the reactance of the people in that setting. Psychological reactance describes people's motivational states when they perceive they are losing a freedom. The participants in this study were 94 college students (29 men and 65 women). Settings were manipulated as either interactive or non-interactive, and testing was manipulated as either pretest or posttest. The Therapeutic Reactance Scale (TRS) was used to measure reactance. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) a significant difference would exist between the scores of those in an interactive and non-interactive setting; (2) no Significant difference would exist between pre- and posttest situations for those in the non-interactive condition; and (3) the scores in the posttest interactive setting would be significantly different from scores in the posttest non-interactive setting. Participants were read a story aloud which presented a problem for them to solve either individually (non-interactive) or with other participants (interactive). The TRS was administered either before the reading (pretest) or after the problem solving activity (posttest). Independent variables were test condition (pretest/posttest) and situation (interactive/non-interactive), and the dependent variable was TRS score. Analysis revealed no significant main effects, and no significant interaction effect, supporting only the second hypothesis. Implications and recommendations for future research are presented, such as exploration of the interaction of gender and situation on TRS score.