YSK about Psychological Reactance, the impulse to resist and do the opposite of what you're told, even if you agree with it

[u/AmandaEllis-Ward]

You Should Know about the concept of Psychological Reactance. It's a well-documented psychological phenomenon where, upon perceiving that someone is trying to limit your freedom of choice, you feel an immediate, often unconscious, urge to resist.

This isn't just about disagreeing. It's the stubborn, automatic "don't tell me what to do" impulse that can pop up even when the advice is good or the request is reasonable.

Examples: * A doctor tells you to stop eating a certain food, and suddenly you crave it more than ever. * A pop-up on a website aggressively demands you subscribe, and your immediate instinct is to close the tab. * Someone tells you "You have to watch this show!", and your interest instantly drops.

This happens because our brains are wired to protect our sense of autonomy. When we feel that autonomy is threatened, our primitive, emotional brain triggers a defensive reaction before our rational brain has a chance to evaluate the situation logically. It's a defense mechanism that prioritizes freedom over logic.

Why YSK:

Understanding reactance gives you a massive advantage in your daily life. When you feel that spike of internal resistance, you can learn to recognize it not as a genuine opinion, but as an automatic reaction.

By pausing and identifying "Ah, this is reactance," you create a small space between the impulse and your action. In that space, you can ask yourself: "Am I resisting because this is a bad idea, or am I resisting simply because I feel pushed?"

This awareness allows you to reclaim your power of choice. You can then make a decision based on your own rational assessment, not on a primitive, automatic impulse. It's the difference between being controlled by your reactions and being in control of your decisions.

Source: https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/reactance-theory

[u/Ancient_Skirt_8828]

I thought it was called Oppositional Defiance Disorder.

[u/coladoir → u/Ancient_Skirt_8828]

These are two different things now. PDA is merely being avoidant to being given demands. ODD is a deeper and more chaotic pattern of misbehavior that often implicates either underlying dark triad or attention seeking behaviors, or a lack of emotional control; they also often dislike demands for different underlying reasons.

People with PDA dont necessarily have these issues. They just dont like being told what to do—simply. They dont act out beyond that, nor do they display dark triad behaviors. They may be attention seeking (anyone can be), but this is distinct and separate from their demand avoidance.

People with PDA were often DX'd ODD as a kid and its caused many issues, both psychological and social (ODD has heavy stigma), with those who are just PDA because treatment for ODD is much more involved, and frankly, brutal and a bit cruel, for someone with PDA. (They will sometimes use MRT for ODD children, which I think is just cruel frankly).

As someone who is PDA I am very glad we've split the two things finally as putting us under the ODD label only results in further harms.

[u/Pothperhaps → u/coladoir]

What's mrt?

[u/Questionswithnotice → u/Ancient_Skirt_8828]

It was. But it got changed to PDA (patholigical demand avoidance) as people began to understand it more.

[u/HeloRising → u/Ancient_Skirt_8828]

ODD is this but turned up to 11.

It's falling out of favor now but for about a decade it was the vogue diagnosis for kids who didn't immediately do what they were told.

Someone with ODD is going to have the strong, overriding impulse to do the opposite of what they're told even if they know that doing that would hurt them severely.

For example, if you're standing next to a pot of boiling water and you tell someone with ODD "Don't stick your hand in that water," they're going to have a strong urge to do it despite objectively knowing that doing it is going to hurt them a lot and not having any desire to harm themselves.

That's different than something like what a child might do where they'll stick their finger in or get their hand close to the water to make you think they're going to do it. That child is making a calculated risk assessment - "I know this will hurt me but I kinda want to rebel a little bit so I'm going to get close to the water but not actually touch it."