A psychological experiment with a banana

[[MC]Ronin[MC]]

A psychological experiment with a banana that gives us an important lesson in life

You may be thinking now ... "how, for God's sake, a banana can give us important answers about the life and society we live in," but believe me, a banana can offer so much more ...

 

Today we are going to tell you about an experiment conducted in 1980 by psychologist Harry Harlow, which reveals to us several secrets related to our communication, our desires and the way we react among ourselves ...

The experiment was conducted at the University of Wisconsin, described in the text Principles of General Psychology and involved 5 monkeys and 1 banana:

Put 5 monkeys in a cage, hang a banana on the ceiling, and put a ladder under it.

Soon, one of the monkeys will start climbing to get a banana. As soon as it touches the ladder, flood the other monkeys with cold water. In a little while, another monkey will try to take a banana. Then you again flood the other monkeys with cold water.

 

Very soon, if one of the monkeys decides to reach for a banana, the rest will stop it.

Now forget about cold water. Remove one of the monkeys and put them inside. She will see the banana and try to get it.

But to her unpleasant surprise, others will attack her. After one or two more attempts, the new monkey will have learned the lesson: if she goes for the banana, the others will beat her.

Now take out another one of the old monkeys and put a new one in its place. She will also try to take a banana and eat a fight from the rest. The one who came before her will beat her with the others!

Similarly, replace the third, fourth, and fifth monkeys again.

Every time a newcomer goes for a banana, the others will attack her, though most have no idea why they are forbidden to climb the ladder or why they beat the monkey. After the last monkey was removed from the cell and replaced with a new one, none of the monkeys in the cell was flooded with cold water. However, no monkey approaches the banana.

Why?

Because, since being in the group, the rules have always been the same.

The experiment clearly proves that living beings, such as apes, like us humans, are capable of believing principles whose logic and meaning are not always known.

It is enough for others to believe in something to make it universally valid for all.

What about the cell? The cell is a metaphor for our society - the world, the school, our workplace, the state, the planet ...