Learning and Psychological Reactance
Why does “learning” and “education” harbor such negativity for young people? Why do we begin our lives with a strong enthusiasm for reading only to watch it fade with age? Why do we shy away from mind-developing activities when we come home from work or school? Psychological reactance theory might aid in providing answers to these difficult questions.
According to Steindl et al:
Reactance is an unpleasant motivational arousal that emerges when people experience a threat to or loss of their free behaviors. It serves as a motivator to restore one’s freedom. The amount of reactance depends on the importance of the threatened freedom and the perceived magnitude of the threat. Internal threats are self-imposed threats arising from choosing specific alternatives and rejecting others. External threats arise either from impersonal situational factors that by happenstance create a barrier to an individual’s freedom or from social influence attempts targeting a specific individual
Thinking from this perspective, it is more clear how the current education system is hurting, not helping, the pursuit of knowledge gathering. The majority of my life has been defined by waking up in the morning and being forced to attend school, having little say in the matter. Avoiding this responsibility, we are told, will lead to bad grades, a poor education, and then eventually a “bad” job and a poor quality of life. Without any freedom to make the decision of “what am I going to do today” upon waking for years and years, we are conditioned to see negatively that entity which has deprived us of that freedom. And since that entity - school/class/college - is directly tied to any concept of learning, education, or knowledge gathering, we are motivated to restore our own freedom by doing the exact opposite when we have the opportunity. This external and high magnitude threat to our freedom results in an equally severe response to restore it, leaving us more prone to reliance on frequent social activities, distractions on the internet, or abuse of drugs during our time as students. Coming home from school and then taking an online course, reading a book, or attending a seminar seems absurd because it reminds us of a lack of freedom in the matter.
I saw this pattern of behavior in myself growing up. As a child, I was lucky to have easy access to books through book fairs or libraries and loved reading. In elementary school, we had free time to read almost every day and were rewarded based on the quantity of books we could consume. When I came home, I couldn’t stop reading, and frequently participated in summer reading challenges. With the transition to middle school and segmented class schedules, syllabuses, and required reading lists for every class, this enthusiasm for reading waned. I was most focused on getting the best grades in every class, and when I got home I tried to ensure that was the case by diligently completing homework. I read books only to the extent that would help my report card, and abhorred reading or learning in any other arena. I hated taking classes at summer camps and trying to learn on my own because I was forced to “learn” in school and wanted anything but that in my free time. I immersed myself in television, video games, and sports as an escape from the shackles of mandatory education.
High school wasn’t much different. With each new class came “required” reading material in the form of textbooks that neither me nor my friends even attempted to read. Those who completed homework the fastest and had the most “free” time were lauded and envied, and those who spent weekends learning or reading were social outcasts, seen as giving in to the education system’s forceful will. I didn’t realize it at the time but psychological reactance meant that few people at that age were able to separate mandatory education at school and learning for genuine curiosity outside of school.
College was also more of the same, except with more pressure for the highest GPA and coincidentally (?) more avenues for distraction with non-stop social events and parties. I now realize that the few times I tried to learn on my own were later in my college career where I could afford a more flexible schedule with less class and more free time. As explained by the reactance theory, the perceived threat to my freedom at this latter stage was less severe, so I was less prone to “rebel” and react negatively to improving myself mentally outside of school.
I’m sure this story is shared by many people and it makes a lot of sense to me under the psychological reactance theory. Initially, I was resentful of my inability to learn outside of school, but now I see that the “work hard, play hard” system we were accustomed to growing up conditioned us to react a certain way. Unfortunately, this situation will only continue to get worse with increased competition and an unchanging education system.
Even now, corporate recruiters will flaunt a “work hard, play hard” culture, preying upon this notion we have developed in school to need a release from the grind of a job. Why can’t work and play be the same? Most successful people find immense joy (play) in the work that they do on an everyday basis. These people see no value in “working hard” and then flipping a switch to “playing hard” trying to escape the work they had to do. Corporate culture has improved to make the workplace more “fun” with a variety of perks but this usually deludes employees into believing that they have to work on something they don’t enjoy so they can reward themselves later. “Playing” at work is now very possible with a modern culture, but what is lacking is “working” at home because of its negative connotation. I believe in an ideal position, working is not mutually exclusive with playing but instead achieves a very significant overlap, to the point where working seems more like playing than anything.
Given reactance theory, I think the solution to the education system is clear: provide students as much choice in school as possible. Allowing students the choice of study topics, the choice of reading material, the choice of classes (not to meet a mandatory core curriculum), and the responsibility and autonomy to make the right decisions will reduce the threat on the freedom that we so crave in our formative years. This sort of system can encourage us to rekindle the joy of learning and build strong habits for life.