What is the psychology behind not wanting to perform a task after being told to do it, even if you were going to do it anyways?
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For some people, this could be ‘pathological demand avoidance’; where it is extremely difficult or frustrating to do something when one is asked to. Some Autistic people have this trait, but I’m definitely not qualified to speak on why this is or why it is frustrating for Autistic people with PDA Autism to be told what to do.
On the whole though, I don’t think you really have to get into psychology to see why this is annoying. People value their autonomy; so it annoys them when others tell them what to do.
It removes the autonomous feeling from the task, resulting in the task being less rewarding, hence the lack of motivation
I think it has a lot more implications for a child being told to do something as an adult.
From one adult to another, it’s often just resentment because they’re framing the situation in a way that takes away your agency. Now there’s some kind of energy investment required to push against this reframing, in addition to the thing you were already going to do. Now you have to do a task *and* express disapproval or defend your sense of propriety or dismiss their presumption or whatever.
The other person was wrong to make the demand because you were going to it anyway. The other person was wrong to make the demand because they don’t have that right. The other person was wrong to make the demand because, if anything, that action has made completing the task *less* likely. But you don’t want to take the energy to express all that because, y’know, fuck’em and their presumption.
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