http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2N0o2F/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DKZeiSKnhOBc
There are a large number of sites describing the so called "Monkey Experiment" where 5 or so monkeys are put in a room with a banana suspended at the top. A ladder is introduced, and whenever a monkey approaches the ladder the rest are shot with cold water. Naturally the monkeys quickly learn to associate this behavior with the negative stimulus of the water so it is said they beat on the other monkey that tries to go near the ladder. One by one all the monkeys are replaced until the new monkeys all beat up monkey's who approach the ladder but none of them knows why. Although I found these stories interesting I was unsure of their scientific merit since only one site made any reference to an actual research article (i.e. "possibly from a U.K. study). In particular the link above makes an incredibly shallow analysis of how this "experiment" relates to politics at the very end, it's actually funny to me...
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_the_monkey_banana_and_water_spray_experiment_ever_take_place
It appears that the original experiment although documenting a similar phenomena is much less grandiose than these clips would have us think, but still relates strongly to the topics discussed in this class. Although the trained monkeys (one's which had experienced a negative stimulus paired with a control object) would not unmercifully beat the untrained monkey approaching the object, they would try to pull them away, casually dissuade them (I assume by gentle pushing, nudging, etc), or in some cases frown and move away. Then when untrained monkeys who had been paired with a trained monkey previously, were reintroduced to the cage alone, they showed a greatly reduced likelihood of interacting or manipulating the control object.
There are numerous studies demonstrating phenomena such as "herd mentality," "social loafing," and "obedience to authority" so I see no reason to lie about this particular study to prove a point. In essence these inaccurate posts represent one of the initial points of the study. It is important to continue to question public policy, and legislation after it has been ironed out, in order to continuously document its usefulness. Advanced in the psychology of memory, and eye-witness-testimony are one reason for doing just this.
Leave a comment