How a culture is created - Lessons in Management from Monkeys.

Before I get into this story about our brothers and sisters one step below in the hierarchy of evolution, I would like to emphasize that we humans claim to be superior on the basis of one key thing; our brainpower.  One would naturally assume that we humans, with our superior brainpower, would behave much better than these siblings under a given reward system?

Storyline:

A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others would beat him up. After some time, no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.

Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The first thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up. After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder - even though he never knew why!

After some time, a second monkey was substituted and the same thing happened. The first monkey participated in beating up the second monkey. A third monkey was changed and the same beating was repeated. The fourth was substituted and the beating was repeated again. Finally the fifth monkey was replaced.

What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that, even though they had never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder. If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder, I bet you the answer would be "I don’t know - that’s how things are done around here."

Reflection:

Look around you, does it sounds familiar?  Don’t miss the opportunity to share this story with others, as they might be asking themselves why we continue to do what we are doing if there is a different way out there!

“Only two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity. And I am not so sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein

The original source of the article is unknown. All due credit will be to him/her/it if identity is disclosed.

Comments

[Mike]

http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/Articles/a-m/monkeys.htm

Saw it here.

[Michael]

Except it's not a real story... so all you've done is try to relate human behavior to a fabrication crafted by humans after human behavior in hopes of understanding human behavior.

Uhmm... good job?

[creative recreation]

Life is always constantly looking for opportunities to realize their own value! I read your blog see you realize the value of your own! But you also want to help more people realize the value they place!

[Marcion P.]

The experiments of Harry Harlow and his associates at the Primate Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin are described in the textbook Principles of General Psychology (1980 John Wiley and Sons)