{"id":17796,"date":"2013-04-16T15:33:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T22:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?page_id=17796"},"modified":"2015-08-21T13:17:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T20:17:21","slug":"reverse-psychology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/reverse-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse Psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reverse psychology<\/strong><\/span> is a psychological trick wherein a person states the opposite of what he\/she wants in the hopes that the person of whom he\/she is making the request will defy his\/her stated wishes, thus giving him\/her what he\/she wants.<\/p>\n

How Does Reverse Psychology Work?<\/strong>
\nReverse psychology capitalizes on a person\u2019s desire for independence<\/a>, and subtly conveys that a person can be independent by defying another person\u2019s wishes. For this reason, it is commonly used with children who wish to express their independence by rebelling against their parents<\/a>. A mother might, for example, tell her four-year-old, \u201cI think you should stay up forever!\u201d The child, confused by his\/her mother\u2019s exclamation and wishing to assert his\/her own decision-making abilities might then choose to go to bed. Parents might also use a more subtle version of reverse psychology with teenage children by exclaiming they love something they actually hate<\/a>. The teen, who thinks his\/her parents are hopelessly unhip, might then choose a different outfit, movie, or song in an attempt to defy his\/her parents, thereby inadvertently actually obeying his\/her parents\u2019 wishes.<\/p>\n

Other Uses of Reverse Psychology<\/strong>
\nAlthough it contains the term psychology<\/a>, reverse psychology is not a common therapeutic tool because therapists do not try to force their wishes on people.<\/p>\n

Reverse psychology is sometimes used as a marketing tool. Marketers may make consumers desire something more by convincing them that purchasing it is counter-culture or that the marketer does not actually want the consumer to purchase the item.<\/p>\n

A classic use of reverse psychology is the \u201cDon\u2019t push this button!\u201d ploy, which has repeatedly been used in comedy sketches, television, and movies. A 2012 viral Youtube video used precisely this approach to advertise the television network TNT in Belgium. A bright red button is positioned in the middle of a town with a large sign encouraging passersby not to touch it. When someone does push the button, a series of progressively more dramatic events ensues, culminating in an advertisement for TNT.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. American Psychological Association. APA concise dictionary of psychology<\/em>. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2009. Print.<\/li>\n
  2. Don’t tap red button. (2012, May 03). YouTube. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rzg6XhAjxMg<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Reverse psychology is a psychological trick wherein a person states the opposite of what he\/she wants in the hopes that the person of whom he\/she is making the request will defy his\/her stated wishes, thus giving him\/her what he\/she wants. How Does Reverse Psychology Work? Reverse psychology capitalizes on a person\u2019s desire for independence, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2474,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"psychpedia.php","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17796","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}