Pathway to Non‐Normative Political Engagement: The Role of Psychological Reactance in Episodic Memories During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Dissatisfaction with Institutions, governments, or the status quo can be expressed via normative (e.g., sign a petition) and non‐normative (e.g., destroy public property) political engagement. The type of political engagement endorsed may be influenced by memories rooted in psychological reactance, as chronic memory activation is known to shape cognitions and behaviors. We conducted two studies during the COVID‐19 pandemic to investigate the impact of activating memories characterized by psychological reactance on normative and non‐normative political engagement, while also controlling for psychological reactance traits. Study 1 randomly exposed participants ( N = 141) to one of three vignettes varying in freedom restriction before describing a memory. Analyses showed that memories characterized by psychological reactance predicted higher non‐normative political engagement a week later. Study 2 used an experimental yoked control design ( N = 181) and demonstrated that priming individuals with their own psychological reactance memory situationally heightened their endorsement of non‐normative political engagement compared to individuals primed with a non‐psychological reactance memory or compared to control groups (i.e., individuals not primed with their own personal memory). Psychological reactance memories did not affect normative political engagement in either study. Chronic activation of memories characterized by psychological reactance appears to represent an important motivational element that distinctly facilitates non‐normative political engagement from normative political engagement.