The Influence of Controlling Language and Gender Stereotype Violation on Freedom Threat and Reactance
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2021-06-15
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en
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Abstract
The usage of high-controlling language in advice can evoke freedom threat (i.e., the
experience of a threat to free behaviors) resulting in reactance (i.e., a motivation to restore this
reduction in freedom). This high-controlling advice is associated with agenticness (being
independent, competent, etc.), which is according to contemporary gender stereotypes a
violation of the expected female role behavior. As these violations often result in backlash
effects (i.e., more resistance towards high-controlling females than towards high-controlling
males), we studied whether the gender of the sender interacted with giving high- versus low controlling advice on reactance in two different virtual reality studies (in 2D online and in 3D
in the university lab) applying the investment paradigm by Verpaalen and colleagues (2020).
We hypothesized participants to experience more reactance in the high-controlling versus the
low-controlling condition. Besides, we expected a stronger effect of controlling advice on
reactance towards females than towards males. Regarding the 3D study, we only found main
effects of controlling language on freedom threat, reactance, and compliance (i.e., as an
indication of reactance striving), while in the 2D study, we found evidence for both
hypotheses but the main effect of controlling language and its interaction with gender on
compliance were respectively non-significant and marginally significant. Socially desirable
responses in the 3D version could have prevented participants from showing the interaction
effect. Although it is highly speculative, the 2D version being less immersive could have
partially led to a weaker manipulation of controlling language resulting in a non-significant
effect on compliance. Overall, we confirmed parts of our theory across both studies.
Keywords: persuasive communication, controlling language, freedom threat, reactance,
reactance striving, gender stereotype violation
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen