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Milgram's Unpublished Obedience Variation and its Historical Relevance
Author(s) -
Rochat François,
Blass Thomas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12071
Subject(s) - milgram experiment , obedience , punishment (psychology) , psychology , social psychology , relevance (law) , resistance (ecology) , deportation , variation (astronomy) , criminology , law , political science , ecology , physics , immigration , astrophysics , biology
In May 1962, Milgram ran the last experimental condition of his obedience experiments in which participants brought a friend to the laboratory. This article reports on previously unpublished findings from this “Bring‐a‐Friend” condition. First, if a participant questions the experimental procedure before administering a punishment more than 10 times to his fellow participant or to his friend, he will succeed in opposing the experimenter's demands to complete the experiment. Early resistance predicts participants’ successful defiance. Second, when the friend is in the role of learner, participants who resist either early or late consequently lessen the number of times they administer the demanded punishment. Having to punish a friend shortens the period of cooperation between reluctant participants and experimenter. These findings are then related to the case of Carl Lutz saving Jews from deportation to their death during WWII.