Values and indirect noncompliance in a Milgram-like paradigm

Abstract

In his obedience studies, Milgram noticed that some participants, while remaining fully obedient, attempted to help the victim of painful electric shocks by vocally signaling the correct answer. However, there is still no systematic description of these more subtle forms of noncompliance. We analyzed this phenomenon by the systematic coding of the indirect noncompliant behaviors recorded in the videos of a previous Milgram-like study and explored the correlations between values and indirect noncompliance. Results revealed that indirect noncompliance was observed when the ostensible shocks were unambiguously damaging (labeled "strong shocks" and associated with a vocal expression of great pain). It was also shown that the more participants valued hard work, the less they tried to help subtly the victim.