Abstract
Introductory psychology students in sections with either a semi-voluntary or a mandatory research requirement completed measures of attitudes toward psychology and psychological research at the beginning and the end of their course. We predicted, according to reactance theory, that mandating students' participation in research would result in their devaluing psychology and research. Results of our quasi-experiment provided partial support for this hypothesis: Students in the semivoluntary policy condition reported more positive attitudes toward the learning value of experiments and toward psychology than did students in the mandatory policy condition. Furthermore, across both policy conditions, ratings on two measures changed over time: Attitudes toward the learning value of experiments became less positive, but attitudes toward experiments themselves became more positive.
