Psychological reactance to system-level policies before and after their implementation.

ABSTRACT: Governments need to develop and implement effective policies to address pressing societal problems of our time, such as climate change and global pandemics. While some policies focus on changing individual thoughts and behaviors (e.g., informational interventions, behavioral nudges), others involve systemic changes (e.g., car bans, vaccination mandates). Policymakers may use system-level policies to achieve socially desirable outcomes, yet often refrain from doing so because they anticipate public opposition. In this article, we propose that people's psychological reactance driving this opposition is a transient phenomenon that dissipates once system-level policies are in place. Using secondary survey data (N = 49,674) and experimental data (six studies; N = 4,629; all prereg

SUBMITTER: Granulo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12067200 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature