The situation factors that appear to influence and affect people's levels of obedience the most I would considered to be mainly the level of authority and prestige that a person or establishment has. In the article Dr. Stanley Milgram is a psychologist at Yale University. A school most prestigiously known for their excellence in academics. This prestige somehow conveys power, which leads to transmition of much more authority. Since Dr. Milgram belongs to this entity he, himself, conveys much more authority than if he didn't. .
As it was shown through Dr. Milgram's experiment, people tended to disobey a bit more when entitled to do something by someone less prestigious, as it happen when they moved the experiment to other establishment out of the university. Claiming that it was an experiment or work done for industry purposes. The rate of obedience was still high but not as much as it was back at Yale establishments. The situation changed when the subjects ignored that a doctor at Yale University was doing the experiment. Which to me it means that the subjects felt more free or strong personality wise, to be able to refuse such orders, when confronting a less prestigious person or entity.
Here is where I think that knowledge based intimidation plays an important role. If you think about it we are more viable to obey somebody who we think knows more than us and whom we think actually knows what they"re doing. For example, if randomly anybody who is not a doctor comes up to you and tells you to give electric shocks to another person for experimental purposes, you most likely won't do it even if it were for money. But if this random person proves to you that he or she is a doctor you would most likely do it and obey whatever their orders or indications are. And at the time of the experiment you would feel more intimidated and incapable of defying this person.
I believe it is more probable that we defy someone that is in our level than someone that's not.
