A study investigated the psychology of 'prompters'—individuals who encourage someone to commit a minor rule-breaking act without performing the act themselves.

Student confederates were recruited to prompt participants to commit a minor transgression. The transgression was to enter a restricted, clearly signed 'Staff Only' office in a university facility to retrieve a USB drive that they were told belonged to someone else.

There were three conditions in the study:

• Two student confederates prompted an unknown student to enter the restricted office.
• One student confederate prompted a close student friend to enter the restricted office.
• One student confederate prompted an unknown student to enter the restricted office.