This is a terrible idea.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, does reverse psychology really work?

You're not the boss of me.

Also, how does knowing about your family's history affect who you are?

I was cousins with everybody.

Name a Jew, we're cousins.

Angela, you're a psychologist, I understand.

I am.

I've always wondered what it's like when a concept from your discipline goes mainstream

and how well or poorly may be understood

by all of us. I can imagine it's gratifying in a way, but also frustrating. So I have a question

along those lines. Maybe one of the most widely known tools of your trade, which many of us talk about and think about and maybe

participate in, what's known as reverse psychology. So my question is simply this. Is it real? Does

it work? Is reverse psychology a thing? I will say this. This term reverse psychology is not a term that psychologists

actually use, but I think it's come to mean when you want X and some way, shape, or form

pushing for not X, and then you get X, actually. What I thought of immediately, though, when

you brought up this topic of reverse psychology was a term that is used a lot by psychologists that's called reactance theory have you heard of reactants yeah bob chaldini has written at length about reactants and it's a concept that really really resonated with me but i'd rather you explain it than me. Okay. So Jack Brem was a psychologist who,

it was 1960s, had this theory of psychological reactants. And basically the idea was that individuals

have a need for autonomy, a need to do things their way. And the feeling of encroachment upon that,

...