托福備考資料拓展：Reverse psychology

In one of Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories, Brer Rabbit escapes from Brer Fox by repeatedly pleading "Please, Brer Fox, don't fling me in that briar patch." The fox does so, allowing the rabbit to escape. And on the ride (Splash Mountain) you can see the robotic versions of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, with Brer Rabbit hovering over a boiling cauldron. As he is about to fry, Brer Rabbit shouts "Alright, you can boil me! But please don't throw me down the waterfall!", at which point the riders fall down a 50 feet drop.

In the episode "A Twist of Ed" of the television show Ed, Edd, and Eddy, in an attempt to demonstrate reverse psychology, Edd commands Ed not to eat a pile of dirt, so, naturally, that is the first thing he does. The three Eds use reverse psychology on their mortal enemies, the Kanker sisters, which backfires when the girls use reverse-reverse psychology on the Eds.

Reverse psychology occurs several times on The Simpsons. In the season 3 episode Saturdays of Thunder, Homer has a conversation with his brain after reading a passage in Bill Cosby's parental-advice book Fatherhood:

Homer's Brain: Don't you get it? You've gotta use reverse psychology.
Homer: That sounds too complicated.
Homer's Brain: OK, don't use reverse psychology.
Homer: All right, I will!
Reverse psychology also occurs on How I Met Your Mother, when a waitress warns Lily not to touch a hot cup of coffee. Lily, of course, promptly does.

In Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor uses reverse psychology to persuade Fortunato to enter his vaults.

Classic examples of reverse psychology in popular culture include a large, bright red button with a sign next to it saying "do not push," or a sign saying "jump at your own risk", such as in the computer game Neverhood, where a large drain is accompanied by signs that say "Do not jump in!" and "You will die!", although jumping in the pipe is the only way to achieve game over in the whole game without finishing it. The Looney Tunes are also well known for using such 'bright red button' gags.

Occasionally, humor is derived from reverse psychology backfiring, as in a FoxTrot strip when Jason, faced with punishment, begs his mom to take away his computer rather than make him eat a whole box of Ho-Hos, and she agrees. A similar example appears in Narbonic.

A real life example of reverse psychology was used in promoting Bohemian Rhapsody. The song is 5 minutes and 55 seconds long, and many record companies felt that would be too long to gain public interest. Freddie Mercury gave a copy to Kenny Everett, a London DJ and good friend, with specific direction not to play the song, knowing that Everett would do just the opposite.

In the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger is persuaded to drink a shot of Scotch whisky by means of reverse psychology.

From the Old Testament, King Solomon, when confronted with two mothers claiming a baby as belonging to each, commanded (threatened) to have the baby cut in half. Through the response of the mother and lying non-mother, Solomon discerned the truth.

In an episode of Trick or Treat, a show featuring Derren Brown, a student was challenged not to kill a kitten, by pushing a button. Throughout the show, she was shown to be extremely conflicted, and by the end, she almost pushed the button just as the timer ran down to zero. During this episode other situations are also explored, such as young children being told not to open a box given to them by the host, all of the subjects ended up opening them.