Some effects of guilt on compliance.

TLDR

The study examined conditions that increase compliance, focusing on whether guilt, rather than sympathy or restitution motives, drives the effect. Two experiments were conducted to investigate how different conditions affect compliance. Guilt induced by delivering painful shocks sharply increased compliance, and neither the confederate’s status nor witness presence affected it, with compliance highest when a non‑victim observer requested the action.

Abstract

Two experiments studied conditions under which compliance will be increased. Experiment I showed that guilt (induced by having subjects deliver painful electric shocks to a confederate) will sharply increase compliance. Status of the confederate and presence of a witness had no effect. Expriment II differentiated among possible explanations for this effect, and suggested that guilt, rather than sympathy or a desire to make restitution, was the critical variable. Subjects who had observed but not delivered the shocks did not comply. Compliance was highest when the request was made by someone who had observed the subject deliver the shocks, but was not himself the victim.