35 Times Bosses, Teachers, Or Parents Went Completely Off The Rails

Of course, whether we respect or ridicule someone with power over us is influenced by more than just a single phrase they said. Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book." She says that a variety of factors contribute to this decision, including:

1. Personal characteristics. Certain personality traits, including conscientiousness and agreeableness, have been linked to greater obedience to authority.
2. Psychological distance. You may be more likely to obey an authority if the effects of your obedience feel distant, abstract, or unconnected to your life.
3. Ambiguity or lack of information. In ambiguous situations, a person may be more likely to obey someone who seems to have more information than they do.
4. Fear of consequences. Obedience often follows people's fears of the consequences of disobedience. Children often obey partners or teachers, for instance, because they fear punishment or losing privileges if they disobey.

It can be difficult to openly call out the ridiculous things people "above" us say. However, John P. Schuster, who is an executive focusing on leadership and human development, says we, as individuals, "need to practice intelligent disobedience at the right time in a technocratic society when rules, often stupid and damaging rules, abound."

"Many of us have had the thought that some of our fruitful developmental experiences came our way when we disobeyed the authority figures around us—'put down that guitar, don’t date that type of girl,' and so on. Not all of them of course, as we also on occasion paid a heavy price for disobedient moves. But some of our moves in the opposite direction of obeying were truly the “right” things to do," explains Schuster, author of The Power of Your Past: The Art of Recalling, Reclaiming, and Recasting and Answering Your Call: A Guide for Living Your Deepest Purpose.

According to Schuster, decades after the Milgram and Stanford prison studies, it's no surprise that social conditions can reshape our moral stances and personal dispositions.

Bad actors can manipulate even the values we see as foundational to society. The dark side is never far off—so it's crucial to pay attention to the nonsense that comes out of other people's mouths, especially from those “above” us.