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by Qqqwxs 2096 days ago
I've heard a similar story about an experiment with monkeys, apparently called the 'five monkeys experiment' [1].

A group of monkeys were put in a room with a ladder leading to a banana. When a monkey touches the banana, sprinklers turn on and soak the room. The monkeys quickly learnt to ignore the banana to avoid getting wet, and even physically stopped newly introduced monkeys (who were unaware of the sprinklers) from climbing the ladder.

The entire group was eventually replaced one by one. The replacement group had never seen the consequence of climbing the ladder, but policed eachother as well as any new members from eating the banana.

[1] https://workingoutloud.com/blog/the-five-monkeys-experiment-...

1 comments

The five monkey experiment is only a fable. See [1].

[1] http://www.throwcase.com/2014/12/21/that-five-monkeys-and-a-...

Yes. Whoever developed it has obviously never seen real primate behaviour which is usually totally driven by what the alpha male thinks or does. A low ranker who tried to police the alpha would get a serious beating.

They never even say what sort of Monkey it is.