Introduction
Psychological reactance theory (Brehm & Brehm, 1981) posits that threats to freedom trigger reactance—a motivational state aimed at restoring autonomy through restricted behaviors. For individuals in poverty, limited economic freedom may drive spending-oriented decisions, an untested mechanism that could explain why low-income groups often favor such choices. Empirical research has largely overlooked how financial constraints are perceived as autonomy threats and how they shape behaviors.
Purpose
This study investigates whether poverty induces perceptions of restricted freedom, drawing on reactance theory to explain responses to financial constraints. It examines links between these perceptions and economic decisions, such as borrowing and saving, while identifying personality moderators.
Method
Study 1 (n=300, online) used surveys to assess perceptions of poverty as a freedom restriction. Study 2 (n=1,069, online) analyzed relationships between income, financial reactance, personality traits, and economic preferences via regression and moderation analyses. Study 3 (n=120, laboratory) experimentally induced poverty through a scarcity paradigm to test causal effects on reactance and decisions.
Results
Study 1 revealed that 85% of participants viewed poverty as highly limiting freedom. In Study 2, lower income correlated with higher financial reactance, which in turn drove greater preferences for loans and installment purchases while reducing saving tendencies—though not luxury goods consumption. Key personality predictors of reactance included elevated trait reactance, materialism, autonomy needs, and internal locus of control. Moderation analyses indicated that materialism intensified the income-reactance link, while trait reactance and internal locus of control strengthened the reactance-loan preference relationship, underscoring how individual differences amplify reactance-driven behaviors amid financial hardship. Study 3 established causality, showing that induced poverty heightened reactance, thereby increasing borrowing intentions and decreasing saving.
Conclusions
Reactance theory illuminates how poverty threatens freedom, fueling decisions that may worsen hardship. Applied implications encompass interventions like gratitude exercises or materialism reduction to reframe perceptions and foster sustainable choices. Policymakers could develop freedom-enhancing aids to avert debt cycles.