What is Reverse Psychology:
As Reverse psychologyalso known as a paradoxical reversal technique, is called a behavioral technique that consists of trying to influence a person by asking them to do the opposite of what you are trying to obtain.
Human beings do not value permitted behaviors enough, while we overvalue those that are prohibited to us. That is, we don’t like being told what to do, so we unconsciously seek to assert our freedom and autonomy by doing exactly the opposite.
This reaction is known as reactancewhich is the tendency of people to oppose rules or prohibitions, and it is on this behavior that reverse psychology bases its technique to achieve its objective, which is to modify the individual’s behavior or push him to make a certain decision.
For apply reverse psychology, the first thing we must know is what type of person we are dealing with, whether we are facing one who is going to insist on opposing us, or one who could end up agreeing with us. The first of them is ideal for applying reverse psychology, and tends to manifest itself especially in children, rebellious young people and stubborn people or people with a big ego.
The next step is to discover how we can influence their behavior by defending an idea that is opposite to what we intend, so that the other person, when they contradict us, ends up thinking that they have won the argument.
Some classic reverse psychology formulas What we hear every day would be: “I bet you can’t eat vegetables for a week”, “I bet you won’t be on time”, “if you eat all your chocolate, there will be vegetables”.
This technique is also questioned, because when it is not used respecting certain ethical limits, it simply becomes a way to manipulate people.
See also Psychology.