Check out the story about a study to determine whether or not men are "hard wired" to do the exact opposite of whatever sugarbumps wants...(FOX News)
When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests.Care to guess the results?
Men and women are sure to argue about this one. In fact, the man and woman who led the study disagree on the meaning of the results.
Psychologists have long known about "reactance," the tendency to do the exact opposite of what's requested by a loved one or boss.
The new study aimed to find out whether the phenomenon might occur at a subconscious level.
Participants were asked to name a significant person they perceived as controlling their lives, and another who just wanted them to have fun.
Then they were asked to discern words from jumbled letters on a computer screen while the names of the people they had mentioned were flashed subliminally. The names were flashed too quickly to be registered consciously.
I love this bit at the end:
Chartrand's own experiences were the impetus for this study.Good times are ahead for this fella...
"My husband, while very charming in many ways, has an annoying tendency of doing exactly the opposite of what I would like him to do in many situations," Chartrand said.
Oh, her husband? That would be Fitzsimons.
Chartrand said her husband "should now be better equipped to suppress his reactant tendencies."
But Fitzsimons said the results "suggest that reactance to significant others is so automatic that I can't possibly be expected to control it if I don't even know it's happening."
Perhaps this is why I'm not married... :)
