“Rethinking Reactance” is an interdisciplinary project advancing theory and methods to measure psychological reactance. We study resistance in digital debates on societal conflict—developing new scales, models, and tools for analyzing state reactance in text.
How do people respond when they feel their freedom is threatened—especially in digital debates about complex societal issues like climate change or migration? The interdisciplinary research project REthinking Reactance explores the dynamics of psychological reactance and aims to develop practical tools for understanding and addressing resistance in communication.
Psychological reactance is not just an individual reaction—it shapes the way we argue, disagree, and engage online. Our team—spanning communication science, psychology, and computer science—works to redefine reactance through new theories, measurement tools, and methods of textual analysis.
The project comprises three main components:
Funded by the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) from December 2023 to October 2024, the project originated from a scholarly network formed during the Annual Meeting of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) in 2021. Our mission: to provide evidence-based insights and tools that support more constructive public discourse in digital spaces.
Resistance in Political Communication | Wicket Problems | Reactance in the Public Sphere
Academic Staff
Everyday Political Conversations • Psychological Reactance • Political Participation • Social Media Challenges
The project includes several research projects within LMU. That's because it's great and very interdisciplinary.