Countercontrol is an option for anyone who is controlled by others.

A controller sets the scene for countercontrol with the goals they pursue.

A countercontroller turns the tables on their controller.

However, countercontrol can be thwarted by changing goals.

In 1953, the great behaviorist B. F. Skinner said that being controlled was not nice. Because of this, Skinner warned that “the individual who undertakes to control other people is likely to be countercontrolled by all of them” (1953, p. 321). According to Skinner (1953), a person who countercontrols, “may show an emotional reaction of anger or frustration... which injures or is otherwise aversive to the controller” (p. 321).

Have you ever felt like someone is winding you up? Maybe they’re pushing your buttons or yanking your chain. Do you sometimes think that a comment was made to get a rise out of you? As a schoolteacher, I often heard these things discussed. When I discovered countercontrol, I thought it could explain what was going on, so I did a Ph.D. to study it (Carey & Bourbon, 2005).

As far as I know, my work was the first time young people had been asked about countercontrol. I gave questionnaires to hundreds of students. About 10 percent of them said they countercontrolled their teacher frequently........

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