This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.

What would you have done?

It's one of the most enduring questions in psychology.

If you were a German soldier in the 1940s, would you have followed orders?

If you were a member of a Hutu militia group in 1994, would you have followed orders? If you were a member of a Hutu militia group in 1994,

would you have killed your Tutsi neighbors

in the unfolding genocide in Rwanda?

If you were a son or daughter of a slave-owning family

in 18th century America,

would you have spoken out against racial injustice?

What would you have spoken out against racial injustice? What would you have done?

The question is compelling, because while we all like to think we would have done the brave thing, the right thing, many of us have the sneaking suspicion, we might not. We fear that we

might have fallen in line like everyone else and done what we were told to do.

Today on the show, we explore the reasons many of us fail to stand up to unjust rules and authority.

Not just to dictators or people perpetrating crimes against humanity,

but to petty tyrants in the workplace, unfair rules in our cities, even mean-spirited gossip

in our circle of friends, why we silence ourselves and how we can align our words and actions with our values.

This week on Hidden Brain.

All of us can remember moments when we stepped up to do the right thing. Maybe we helped a fellow student who was on the receiving end of hurtful barbs.

Maybe we defied orders that we knew were wrong.

Looking back, we remember these moments with pride.

But all of us also remember other moments,

...