Has this ever been tested outside of surveys and stuff?
Yeah, Milgram - a psychologist. I've studied him at A level.
I can't do the study or Milgram justice off the top of my head but here's a butchered summary of the idea of the study:
He told his participants that he was doing a study on memory. The study was actually measuring obedience in reference to Nazi Germany. Milgram wanted to know how/why ordinary German people could stand by and kill/watch millions of other people be killed, and therefore how far people could go when following orders. Is something right because it is an order? Do we feel that we have any responsibility for something that we've been told to do by a higher authority?
I can't go into detail behind how the (original - there's been many alterations to the experiment over the years to avoid participants being psychologically harmed) was done because it's so long and complicated to type. It'd be much easier to say in words, or just watch the 3 videos at the bottom of this post and see for yourself. It's very worthwhile and interesting.
Here's a link to a watered down explanation of the experiment.
Here's a link to original footage of the experiment - very interesting if you have the time to watch it, or I found it so anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2PGnHHnRMk
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzYAdGl_0mA
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSiMM_GIiyA