This story has been around for a while but I only heard it recently and figured it applies to a lot of people I know, even I have been guilty of it from time to time. A group of scientists put 5 monkeys in a room. The room contained a ladder, and atop the ladder was a banana. The monkeys were ecstatic at the prospect of a meal and one of them approached the ladder, but when they got near it the entire group of monkeys were soaked with a hose. Confused, but not yet deterred, a second monkey went for the banana and the same thing happened. After this the monkeys got the message that approaching the banana would result in a soaking so they all gave up on their hope of eating it. To mix things up the scientists swapped out one of the original 5 monkeys with a new monkey who had not witnessed the previous events. This monkey saw the banana and went for the ladder, but instead of receiving the hose, this monkey received a vicious beating from the other 4. The scientists proceeded to swap out another monkey. The 2nd new monkey also went for the banana and received a beating, which the previously beaten monkey was willing to join in with even though he had never been soaked. This process continued until none of the original monkeys remained. When the final new monkey was put in to the cage, he also went for the banana and received a beating from the other monkeys. The end result of this was five monkeys standing around, upholding a social norm that they no longer connected to a logical consequence. Makes you think about the "well that is just how we do things around here" attitude
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 06:50:17 +0000
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