To the seekers of knowledge,
Welcome to the AQIL Newsletter: A collection of letters that are designed to enhance and enlighten your insight with ancient lessons and modern ideas.
Intro
The 5 Monkey Experiment is a symbolic narrative that captures an important lesson that resonates deeply with our understanding of cultural norms and behavior psychology. Don’t you always wonder why people think the way they do? Why do they act the way they do? What is the string that is pulling each puppet to dance? Is it based on deep thought and reflection? You don’t have to get a PhD in psychology to understand that humans are very unique creatures that don’t make rational decisions all the time. In fact our decisions have often been very irrational.
Look around you, we eat foods that knowingly harm us, we exploit resources in a way that damages our environment, we smoke things that shorten our lifespan, and we let the news make us believe the heroes are villains and the villains are heroes so easily.
We can go on and on about the irrationality of humanity. If you look at cultures around the world there is a lot of beauty and art that gets passed down from generation to generation, but if we are honest there is a lot of ignorance and irrationality that is also passed down that we don’t question. In fact, if we question certain customs we might be deemed a threat and condemned ourselves. “This is custom. This is the way things have always been done.” Is it possible that we just accept and move on and not question? “Monkey see, Monkey do” right?
The 5 Monkey experiment challenges society, it challenges social norms, it challenges the very basis of what you believe because it asks the simple question that generations of people avoid. Why? When you ask why, you become the outlier, instead of being the puppet pulled by a string you begin to tug back and search for deeper answers.
The Experiment
5 monkeys were put in a room and at the top of the room there were bananas hanging from the ceiling and in the middle of the room, there was a ladder. When one monkey tried to climb up to get the banana those running the experiment would turn on the hose and spray all the monkeys with ice-cold water, and so the monkey would come down without the banana. Then when another monkey would go up to get the banana, again they would spray all the monkeys with ice-cold water making it clear that anyone who attempts to get the banana would cause all of them to be sprayed.
What would happen over time is that whenever a monkey would be tempted to go climb the ladder and get the banana the other monkeys would jump, pull, and beat whoever attempted to climb the ladder in fear of getting sprayed with the hose. The group of monkeys wanted to make it clear no one could go for that banana because they knew the punishment that was coming.
Then the experimenters began swapping one of the monkeys out, now there is a new monkey in the room who doesn’t know the rules. The new monkey would attempt to climb the ladder for the banana, then all 4 monkeys would attack the new monkey pull him back down, and make it clear it was unacceptable to climb the ladder and go for that banana. Now the new monkey also knows that if he climbs for the banana he will be attacked, but he never was met with the punishment of being sprayed with the hose.
Over time they continue to switch out an old monkey for a new monkey and the former would occur if anyone tried to climb the ladder they would be beaten. In the end, you have 5 new monkeys who have never been sprayed with ice-cold water yet they all do not attempt to climb the ladder for the banana in fear of being attacked by the other monkeys, and NONE of them even know why.
Takeaways
Conformity vs. Individuality:
The 5 Monkey experiment highlights the reality between conforming and thinking independently. It demonstrates how social influence can lead to conformity even when individuals are unaware of the rationality behind their actions. This serves as a reminder to evaluate whether you are conforming to expectations without understanding the purpose of something.
Breaking the Cycle:
If something is no longer serving a beneficial purpose or is harming society we should look to be the catalyst for change. It is crucial for society to develop by challenging ideas which is usually done by key individuals who have the courage to break the cycle and make revolutionary change. Malcolm Gladwell refers to these individuals as Outliers.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explores how breaking outdated cycles is key to success. He challenges the view of innate talent through the 10,000-hour rule emphasizing the importance of hard work and mastery.
Unquestioned Beliefs:
In an era where fake news circulates so often and the truth is constantly distorted through the media, I found challenging unquestioned beliefs the most important to point out. The monkeys’ over time enforced rules without understanding or questioning why is a powerful metaphor for how people can uphold beliefs or actions without questioning their validity.
It encourages you to critically examine your own beliefs and behaviors—are they truly your own, or are they simply the result of an idea planted for an alternative agenda? Think about it next time you pick up the New York Times, instead look for eternal truths.
“Read not the Times. Read the Eternities. Knowledge does not come to us by details but in flashes of light from heaven.”
― Henry David Thoreau, (Life Without Principle)