5 Monkeys Experiment

The 5 monkeys experiment by G.R Stephenson, which was designed to show how traditions and customs or beliefs are formed and what herd psychology is, is a masterpiece. A large number of monkey experiments are carried out in order to obtain psychological and sociological inferences. Although the use of animals in experiments is not conscientious, the results of the experiments are very thought-provoking.

Five Monkeys Experiment

The 5 Monkey Experiment, which has been shared many times and told by people to each other, is briefly as follows;

1. They put 5 monkeys in a cage and place a ladder in the middle of the cage with a banana on the ceiling above it.
2. If one of the monkeys tries to reach the bananas at the top of the stairs, the officials wet the other innocent monkeys sitting in a corner with cold water, not that monkey.
3. Whenever one of the monkeys tries to climb the ladder to get a banana, the other monkeys start blocking that monkey and even beating it nicely so as not to get wet.
4. No matter how tempting the bananas on the ladder are, no monkey in the cage will dare to climb the ladder.
5. Then the officials take one of the monkeys in the cage and put a new monkey in the cage instead.
6. Unaware of what is going on, this newly arrived monkey saw the bananas hanging from the ceiling on the stairs; It says “Wow suckers, can’t this banana be eaten” and runs to climb the ladder. It a few steps have either climbed or not, and other monkeys took it between themselves and beaten it well. The new monkey also, after being beaten a few times like this, it give up to climb the ladder, even if he doesn’t know why.
7. Then, the officials take out one of the first monkeys to enter and put a new monkey in the cage. And again the same thing happens. But this time, among those who beat him, there is this monkey that never got wet. Although he does not know why, since the pain of the stick he ate is fresh, he beats the monkey that has just entered the cage, in the harshest way.
8. The third monkey, followed by the 4th and finally the 5th monkey, is taken out of the cage and new monkeys are taken into the cage gradually. Of course, the same thing happens to every monkey that just enters the cage. After being beaten up a lot by the other monkeys in the cage, they give up climbing the ladder to reach for the banana.
9. Finally, at the end of the experiment, although they have never been exposed to cold water before, there are 5 monkeys in the cage that will beat the monkey that tries to climb the ladder.

If it was possible to ask the last 5 monkeys in this five monkey experiment why they did this, they would probably say, “We saw like this from our ancestors”.

You can also share your opinions about this experiment in the comments section…

January 7, 2024