Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

---

Ben Rosenberg studies how people react to having their freedom threatened. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Dominican University of California. In addition to conducting his own studies on this question, he has exhaustively reviewed decades of research on something called "psychological reactance theory." In our conversation, we break down what reactance is, where it comes from, who it applies to, and what questions about it are still unanswered.

Episode 76 of Opinion Science, Released March 27, 2023. Produced and hosted by Andy Luttrell.

For links to the research that came up in this episode, go to the episode's webpage: opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/psychological-reactance-theory-with-ben-rosenberg

==================
Opinion Science is a psychology podcast exploring the science of our opinions, where they come from and how they change. Each week I talk to social scientists and professional communicators about how the work they do reveals key insights about public opinion and persuasion.

Follow this psychology podcast...
Website: opinionsciencepodcast.com
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/opinion-science/id1506227206
Twitter: twitter.com/OpinionSciPod
Facebook: facebook.com/OpinionSciPod