This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Quick, B. L. Articles by Stephenson, M. T. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Further Evidence That Psychological Reactance Can Be Modeled as a Combination of Anger and Negative Cognitions

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bquick{at}uiuc.edu

Michael T. Stephenson

Texas A&M University, mstephenson{at}tamu.edu

The primary objective of this investigation was to validate the recent operationalization of state reactance as a latent construct comprised of both affective and cognitive components. In addition to testing the operationalization of reactance, the authors tested the conceptual coherence of this construct by examining its association with threat-to-choice perceptions and ad persuasiveness of condom ads. Across seven condom television ads, the authors found evidence in support of treating reactance as a latent variable comprised of negative cognitions and state anger. An invariance test demonstrated that both of these variables loaded on reactance equivalently across all seven ads. In addition, results indicate that threat-to-choice perceptions are positively associated with reactance, thus providing conceptual consistency of this operationalization with Brehm's explication of reactance. Furthermore, the authors found evidence suggesting a negative association between ad persuasiveness with reactance and threat-to-choice perceptions.

Key Words: psychological reactance • message processing • condom ads

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?