Talk:Boomerang effect (psychology)

Streisand effect
This seems related to the Streisand effect. --Shanedidona (talk) 05:26, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Scope and merger
Here's what I just wrote in the DYK review:

I am not sure that the article has a solid foundation. The basic idea seems to be to equate the boomerang effect with reactance (psychology) but that would make it a redundant content fork. But if you look at the history of the article, one finds that it started as a general account of boomerang effects, i.e. when an action backfires and is counterproductive. This is surely the general meaning of the phrase and we even have the concept on Wikipedia - see WP:BOOMERANG.

The article states that "Hovland, Janis and Kelly first recorded and named boomerang effect in 1953." but this strong claim is supported only by a citation of their own paper and that's not good enough. I find that Robert K. Merton identified multiple types of boomerang effect in his study of WW2 propaganda in 1949 - see Media And Audiences. That sociologist seems prominent in the study of such unintended consequences and it might be best for this article to be folded into that one again.

Andrew (talk) 14:47, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

Too abstract and scientific
Not an easy read. Lots of specific psychological terms and too few examples, and even those that are cited are not clearly explained. I still don't know if the kids ate their veggies, in what ways managers went easy on the loyalty programs, and what about health messages increased drinking and how this was offset. Wikipedia is not primarily supposed to be an entertainment source but sadly, I didn't really get the interesting and digestible information out of it I was looking for, either. 37.161.195.191 (talk) 21:35, 18 May 2014 (UTC)
 * I reworded the lead; does it look better? Titanium Dragon (talk) 20:24, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

why are we calling it reactance?
Reactance specifically refers to a percieved or actual threat of or limiting to a freedom. As an example if I take a toy away from a child and they want it back that's reactance. The ability to play with the toy is the freedom at risk. The boomerang effect you could argue is a facet of reactance or is derived from it. 68.82.9.34 (talk) 23:45, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Theories of Persuasion
— Assignment last updated by Franklyn101 (talk) 01:32, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Current Research
These results can further be seen in more recent data. A study was conducted in 2022 (released in 2023) by Alex Kresovich about the influence of pop music artists who discuss mental health problems with their younger audiences. The study had two aims. The survey was used to experiment if contemporary pop music artists would be the most efficient spokespeople about this issue. They also experimented with the type of language used.

They tried two types: direct versus mistargeted (referring to the audience as "you" versus more personally as a friend). The findings suggest that using celebrities in public service messages to discuss mental health issues like depression and advocating for support would cause the boomerang effect in its reached audience. In fact, using this strategy with celebrities as the spokesperson would increase the stigmatized beliefs in the US youth (ages 16-24).

Another action of the study showed the celebrities were to use more positive associations to depression in order to view it more positively. However, this action led to an increase in stigma and depression romanticizing from the young audience, both of which are consequential responses to the public health campaign (35). Emiann1x1 (talk) 00:42, 12 April 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Theories of Persuasion Spring 2024
— Assignment last updated by Lawflower21 (talk) 14:17, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Peer review
I think that this article contains loads of in depth information pertaining to the boomerang effect. I think there is some room for improvement in some areas however. There is a lack of graphics on this wikipedia page, I know that it may be difficult to depict the boomerang effect, but images/graphics would help make the article feel less wordy by breaking up the long sections of text. I think that there is also room to improve upon the Deliberate Exploitation section, why is reverse psychology mentioned so briefly when it almost like a complete opposite to the boomerang effect. I feel as though an interesting section could be comparing and contrasting the two. Plizington (talk) 14:34, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Peer Review
The lead of the article is a bit difficult to understand. The definition feels too wordy, is not concise enough, and honestly looks like ramblings. The rest of the article has numerous spelling and grammatical errors, run-on sentences, and lack of proper citations.

People should always be cited with their first and last names the very first time they are mentioned in an article and can be cited with just their last name afterwards. Citations should always come after the end of a sentence, not in the middle of them.

Much of the article feels like the author was trying too hard to paraphrase and makes the article extremely lengthy in areas where it doesn't have to be. Hellomuffin (talk) 14:46, 16 February 2024 (UTC)