Journal Entry #10

Journal Entry # 10

Psychological Reactance

As it is approaching those last few weeks of school, I feel more encouraged than ever to go exploring around campus and to generally meander in my free time (or time that I am putting towards procrastination). These kinds of urges especially hit me when I am being told by peers and teachers, every kind of version of the phrase “You have to study for the final.” Tagged to the end of this phrase will often come conversations that stem from something like, “…what are you doing? Are you working? No? Do work! You have to study!” You can probably already tell that these conversations have very little positive effect on my productivity; in fact, it often results in my desire to do exactly the opposite of sitting down and studying. I often get quite jittery after these conversations. My restlessness cannot be eased right away though, so it often bubbles inside of me until I have time to let it all go on a walk the next day.

This kind of issue is apparently not unique to just me. Psychological reactance is the feeling of a loss of choice or freedom. It also describes the phenomenon of if we are told what to do, we have a strong desire to do the opposite thing. This describes my feeling during finals season perfectly. Even though I know it would be better for me to sit down and do work for a few hours, I have also learned about myself enough to where I know that I am not the type of person who can calmly sit for hours at a time in front of my computer or textbook, working on one subject for the sole reason of having an impending exam. I just always feel that when I am following these orders of sit down or do your homework, I am being far too submissive for my own liking. If I am going to do something, I want to do it on my own terms, not because someone else thinks it is a good idea.

Psychological reactance manifests itself in different ways. There is something called the Romeo and Juliet Effect, which is coined for couples that are staying together even though their parents do not want them to. There was an incident a few years ago in Dade County, Florida where the brand of “Tide” laundry detergent had been banned. Though choosing “Tide” over any other brand name laundry detergent seems pretty arbitrary to me, the residents of Dade County went to great lengths for their “Tide” and even committed acts of smuggling. Who ever knew that Tide and alcohol would ever appear on the same list of things that were once exchanged under the table?

In me, psychological reactance manifests itself as restlessness. I will tend to wander around campus during the afternoons when I could (and probably should) be doing some sort of academic work. Instead, I seek out new places and sort them into categories of where I think that I could potentially study in the future or where I could take a break in between classes. Some of those places are not exactly locations that I am allowed to be exploring, but they are not necessarily places I am prohibited from either (building rooftops are a perfect example of this).

My little adventures across campus are yet another example of psychological reactance, this time against the unspoken rules of campus that there are certain areas of the college where students are not expected to be wandering. However, in my personal opinion, if I am safe about where I wander and do not put anyone into harm’s way, I should not be a major concern as a “rule-breaker”.

Killing two birds with one stone – refusing to sit down and study and stay off of rooftops – really speaks to my psychological reactance and I am curious to know what other people do in these cases.