Reactions to help: Reciprocity, responsibility and reactance

A 50-year review of psychological reactance theory: Do not read this article.

“…As an interesting caveat, people may interpret acts that are typically beneficial as threats to their freedom to act as they choose. For instance, Krishnan and Carment (1979) found that having a confederate help participants on a task pressured them to return the favor, which aroused reactance by threatening their freedom to help or not (for similar results see Nemeth, 1970).…”

Can online buddies and bandwagon cues enhance user participation in online health communities?

“…In a similar vein, negative effects of online buddy assignment might be alleviated by employing the principle of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960;Kollock, 1999;Krishnan & Carment, 1979). People tend to exhibit a greater degree of helping behavior when they have themselves received prior help (e.g., Berkowitz & Daniels, 1964).…”

Culture, self, and the emergence of reactance: Is there a “universal” freedom?

“…In social psychology the concept of freedom is mostly looked at in the context of the individual's control and choice. Having a free choice is highly valued and its elimination is a pervasive predictor of behavior in areas as diverse as consumption (Clee & Wicklund, 1980), health (Seibl & Dowd, 1999;Orbell & Hagger, 2006), or helping behavior (Krishnan & Carment, 1979). Reactance theory in particular emphasizes the importance of "specific" individual freedoms and defines conditions under which people react against threats to these freedoms.…”