The purpose of this paper was to describe psychological reactance theory in detail and to discuss and refine the theory. The paper consists of following five parts.
1. Introduction: An overall explanation of J. W. Brehm's psychological reactance theory with an in-depth discussion.
2. The world of psychological reactance: (1) Psychological reactance in daily life situations. (2) Definition of psychological reactance.
3. The concepts of freedom in psychological reactance theory: (1) How we know and feel what freedom is. (2) Freedom of behavior. (3) The nature of freedom.
4. Types of obstruction of freedom: (1) Threats to and elimination of freedom. (2) Personal and impersonal obstruction of freedom. (3) The meaning of classifying obstruction of freedom. (4) Obstruction of freedom and social power. (5)Threats to freedom. (6) Internal and external threats to freedom. (7) External threats to freedom.
5. Justification and legitimacy in freedom: (1) Effects of justification and legitimacy of the obstruction of freedom on reactance strength. (2) Effects of justification and legitimacy of the obstruction of freedom on people's beliefs about freedom.