The Puzzle of Coercion Failure: How Psychology Explains Resistance to Threats

• In Event: Experimental Research on Leaders and International Relations

Abstract

Leaders often turn to coercive diplomacy to get what they want, yet compellent threats have a surprisingly poor success rate. Targets stand firm, rather than back down, even in the face of powerful challengers. Drawing from research in psychology, we identify one important yet unrecognized factor that causes people to resist threats: psychological reactance. Reactance theory explains that when someone perceives a personal threat to their freedom to choose, they will respond by trying to restore their autonomy. They will perform a forbidden action rather than capitulate. We test our theory with a novel experiment designed to isolate the effect of reactance by comparing how people respond to personal threats or costly but impersonal constraints. Controlling for prominent alternative explanations, we find evidence that people who are the target of a direct threat are less likely to capitulate and more likely to promote aggression against their opponent. Coercion failure has a psychological foundation.

Authors

• Kathleen E Powers, Dartmouth College

• Dan Altman, Georgia State University