On the Nature of Reactance and its Role in Persuasive Health Communication James Price Dillard & Lijiang Shen Reactance theory might be profitably applied to understanding failures in persuasive health communication but for one drawback: The developer of the theory contends that reactance cannot be measured. Rejecting this position, this paper develops four alternative conceptual perspectives on the nature of reactance (i.e., combinations of cognition and affect), then provides an empirical test of each. Two parallel studies were conducted, one advocating flossing ðN ¼ 196Þ; the other urging students to limit their alcohol intake ðN ¼ 200Þ: In both cases, a composite index of anger and negative cognitions fully mediated the effects of threat-to-freedom and trait reactance on attitude and intention. The data showed that, in fact, reactance can be operationalized as a composite of self-report indices of anger and negative cognitions. The implications for persuasive communication, in general, are considered as well the specific findings for flossing and drinking. Keywords: Reactance; Anger; Threat to Freedom; Persuasion Persuasive attempts of all sorts, including public health campaigns, often fail to produce the desired effect (Foxcraft, Lister-Sharp, & Lowe, 1997; Wallack, 1981; Wilde, 1993). In fact, in some cases, they produce results directly at odds with their intent (Guttman, Kegler, & McLeroy, 1996; Hornik, 2002; Stewart & Martin, 1994). The theory of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981; Wicklund, 1974) provides one theoretical perspective through which these suasory ISSN 0363-7751 (print)/ISSN 1479-5787 (online) q 2005 National Communication Association DOI: 10.1080/03637750500111815 James Dillard, Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, and Lijiang Shen, Center for Communication Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. We thank Mike Stephenson for his reactions to an earlier version of this manuscript. Correspondence to: James Dillard, Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, Sparks Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Email: jpd16@psu.edu Communication Monographs Vol. 72, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 144–168