The longest running off-Broadway musical, The Fantasticks, tells of two neighbors who want their young adult children to fall in love with one another. Using reverse psychology, the fathers build a wall between their houses and forbid their son and daughter to meet. Spoiler alert: The tactic works and the couple falls in love.
Making someone want something they can’t have is a form of reverse psychology. Reverse psychology is regularly used to spark reactance. It’s a psychological phenomenon in which people perceive an individual freedom is threatened and then take action to preserve or protect that freedom.
