The Science Behind Doing Things that We Are Told Not To Do

Don’t think of a big tree.

Believe it or not, you probably did exactly that and thought of a big tree.

Your parents/guardians or even teachers have probably told you, “Please be quiet.” or “Please don’t touch that.” But, when we are told that, we often want to do that exact thing. Why are we so rebellious?

We don’t want to have someone controlling our life. Humans, like you and me, all want to be the person that decides what you do, especially at our young age. When someone tells us what to do, we want to challenge them. We want to tell them, “WOOHOO! You can’t tell me what to do! You're not the boss of me”, so you do exactly what they tell you NOT TO DO.

But even if we want to be independent, there are so many times when we should curb our rebellious actions. Two examples. First, let’s say your parents tell you not to cross that street yourself because it’s super dangerous. Since there’s danger, it’s obvious you should not risk your life and cross the street all for the sake of challenging your parents. It’s not worth it. Second, when someone gives you good advice for improving yourself, you should always take it into consideration and maybe apply it to your own life, instead of rebelling against it and throwing that advice away.