Reverse psychology
Encyclopedia
Reverse psychology is a technique involving the advocacy of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what actually is desired: the opposite of what is suggested. This technique relies on the psychological phenomenon of reactance
, in which a person has a negative emotional response in reaction to being persuaded, and thus chooses the option which is being advocated against.
Questions have however been raised about such an approach when it is more than merely instrumental, in the sense that 'reverse psychology implies a clever manipulation of the child' and nothing more. With respect to '"emotional intelligence
"...[&] successful fathering', the advice has been given: 'don't try to use reverse psychology....such strategies are confusing, manipulative, dishonest, and they rarely work'. In addition, consistently allowing a child to do the opposite of what he/she is being advised, undermines the authority of the parent.
is the technique of 'the Paradoxical intervention....This technique has also been called "prescribing the symptom" and "antisuggestion"'. Here the technique employed is to frame the therapist's 'message so that resistance
to it promotes change (i.e. paradoxical prescriptions, reverse psychology)'.
Such interventions 'can have a similar impact as humor in helping clients cast their problems in a new light....By going with, not against, the client's resistance, the therapist makes the behavior less attractive'.
with a sign next to it saying "do not push", or a sign saying "jump at your own risk", such as in the computer game Neverhood, where a large drain is accompanied by signs that say "Do not jump in!" and "You will die!", although jumping in the pipe is the only way to achieve game over
in the whole game without finishing it. The Looney Tunes
are also well known for using such "bright red button" gags. A well-known example of reverse psychology is the Looney Tunes cartoon Rabbit Fire
, where Bugs Bunny
and Daffy Duck
are trying to convince Elmer Fudd
it's the hunting season
for the other species and not their own. After a back-and-forth with Bugs proclaiming "Duck
season!" and Daffy "Wabbit (rabbit
) season!", Bugs switches to say "Rabbit season!", to which Daffy begins saying "Duck season!"- even going so far as to exclaim "I say it's duck season, and I say, FIRE!"
Occasionally, humor is derived from reverse psychology backfiring, as in a FoxTrot strip when Jason, faced with punishment, begs his mom to take away his computer rather than make him eat a whole box of Ho-Hos, and she agrees. A similar example appears in Narbonic
.
where Mark Antony uses reverse psychology to get the town's people to cause a riot.
In one of Joel Chandler Harris
's Uncle Remus
stories, Br'er Rabbit
escapes from Br'er Fox by repeatedly pleading "Please, Br'er Fox, don't fling me in that briar patch." The fox does so, allowing the rabbit to escape: 'the Rabbit uses "reverse psychology" to outsmart the Fox'.
Reverse psychology occurs several times on The Simpsons
. In the third season episode "Saturdays of Thunder
", Homer has a conversation with his brain after reading a passage in Bill Cosby
's parental-advice book Fatherhood
:
'In The Ghost Writer (1979), the Master - E. E. Lonoff - is "countersuggestible"; one manipulates him via reverse psychology in much the same manner as, say, Poe
's cerebral detectives match their wits against master criminals'. Similarly in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado
", Montresor uses reverse psychology to persuade Fortunato to enter his vaults. He says that Fortunato is too tired and should get some rest, and that he should find someone else to help him with his problem. Montresor knew that Fortunato would disagree and insist on entering the vault.
Reactance (psychology)
Reactance is an emotional reaction in direct contradiction to rules or regulations that threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms.Reactance can occur when someone is heavily pressured to accept a certain view or attitude. Reactance can cause the person to adopt or strengthen a view or...
, in which a person has a negative emotional response in reaction to being persuaded, and thus chooses the option which is being advocated against.
Children
Reverse psychology is often used on children due to their high tendency to respond 'with reactance, a desire to restore threatened freedom of action...some parents feel that the best strategy is sometimes "reverse psychology": telling children to stay in the house when you really want them to choose to go outside and play'.Questions have however been raised about such an approach when it is more than merely instrumental, in the sense that 'reverse psychology implies a clever manipulation of the child' and nothing more. With respect to '"emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a skill or ability in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most...
"...[&] successful fathering', the advice has been given: 'don't try to use reverse psychology....such strategies are confusing, manipulative, dishonest, and they rarely work'. In addition, consistently allowing a child to do the opposite of what he/she is being advised, undermines the authority of the parent.
The paradoxical intervention
Closely associated with reverse psychology in psychotherapyPsychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
is the technique of 'the Paradoxical intervention....This technique has also been called "prescribing the symptom" and "antisuggestion"'. Here the technique employed is to frame the therapist's 'message so that resistance
Psychological resistance
Psychological resistance is the phenomenon often encountered in clinical practice in which patients either directly or indirectly oppose changing their behavior or refuse to discuss, remember, or think about presumably clinically relevant experiences....
to it promotes change (i.e. paradoxical prescriptions, reverse psychology)'.
Such interventions 'can have a similar impact as humor in helping clients cast their problems in a new light....By going with, not against, the client's resistance, the therapist makes the behavior less attractive'.
Paradoxical marketing
'In a world where it is expected that all things should be available...less availability' has emerged as a new selling point: 'by engaging in such a restricted anti-marketing ploy the brand has won kudos' - reverse psychology. The result can be 'what the Japanese call a secret brand...no regular retail outlets, no catalog, no web presence apart from a few cryptic mentions...people like it because it's almost impossible to find'.Manipulation
Reverse psychology can also prey on a person's ego, as when it is used, it can make the target feel incompetent; effectively persuading the person to perform the desired action.In popular culture
Classic examples of reverse psychology in popular culture include a large, bright red buttonBig red button
A big red button , sometimes called a big red switch , is a real or fictional button with various functions. The purpose of being big and red is for its quick identification and actuation...
with a sign next to it saying "do not push", or a sign saying "jump at your own risk", such as in the computer game Neverhood, where a large drain is accompanied by signs that say "Do not jump in!" and "You will die!", although jumping in the pipe is the only way to achieve game over
Game over
Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...
in the whole game without finishing it. The Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
are also well known for using such "bright red button" gags. A well-known example of reverse psychology is the Looney Tunes cartoon Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Fire is a 1951 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, The short is notable for being the first film in Jones' "hunting trilogy"—the other two films being Rabbit Seasoning and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!. It is also...
, where Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
are trying to convince Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
it's the hunting season
Hunting season
A hunting season is the time when it is legal to hunt and kill a particular species.In the United States, each state has primary responsibility and authority over the hunting of wildlife that resides within state boundaries. State wildlife agencies that sell hunting licenses are the best source of...
for the other species and not their own. After a back-and-forth with Bugs proclaiming "Duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
season!" and Daffy "Wabbit (rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
) season!", Bugs switches to say "Rabbit season!", to which Daffy begins saying "Duck season!"- even going so far as to exclaim "I say it's duck season, and I say, FIRE!"
Occasionally, humor is derived from reverse psychology backfiring, as in a FoxTrot strip when Jason, faced with punishment, begs his mom to take away his computer rather than make him eat a whole box of Ho-Hos, and she agrees. A similar example appears in Narbonic
Narbonic
Narbonic is a webcomic written and drawn by Shaenon K. Garrity. The storylines center on the misadventures of the staff of Narbonic Labs, which is the domain of mad scientist Helen Narbon. The strip started on July 31, 2000 and finished on December 31, 2006. On January 1, 2007, Garrity launched the...
.
In plays and fiction
There are numerous examples of reverse psychology in fiction, cinema, and cartoons, including William Shakespeare's Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
where Mark Antony uses reverse psychology to get the town's people to cause a riot.
In one of Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years...
's Uncle Remus
Uncle Remus
Uncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
stories, Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the Southern United States. He is a trickster character who succeeds by his wits rather than by brawn, tweaking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit...
escapes from Br'er Fox by repeatedly pleading "Please, Br'er Fox, don't fling me in that briar patch." The fox does so, allowing the rabbit to escape: 'the Rabbit uses "reverse psychology" to outsmart the Fox'.
Reverse psychology occurs several times on The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. In the third season episode "Saturdays of Thunder
Saturdays of Thunder
"Saturdays of Thunder" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1991. In the episode, Homer takes a fatherhood quiz and realizes that he knows nothing about Bart. He strives to be a better father and learns that...
", Homer has a conversation with his brain after reading a passage in Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
's parental-advice book Fatherhood
Fatherhood (book)
Fatherhood is a bestselling 1986 book attributed to Bill Cosby and published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. The book was ghostwritten by humorist Ralph Schoenstein.-History:...
:
- Homer's Brain: Don't you get it? You've gotta use reverse psychology.
- Homer: That sounds too complicated.
- Homer's Brain: OK, don't use reverse psychology.
- Homer: All right, I will!
'In The Ghost Writer (1979), the Master - E. E. Lonoff - is "countersuggestible"; one manipulates him via reverse psychology in much the same manner as, say, Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's cerebral detectives match their wits against master criminals'. Similarly in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book....
", Montresor uses reverse psychology to persuade Fortunato to enter his vaults. He says that Fortunato is too tired and should get some rest, and that he should find someone else to help him with his problem. Montresor knew that Fortunato would disagree and insist on entering the vault.
See also
Further reading
- Gerald R. Weeks, Promoting Change through Paradoxical Therapy (1991)