5 Monkeys and Ladder

Have you heard of the "Five Monkeys and Ladder Experiment"? It's a famous psychology experiment that goes something like this:

Five monkeys were placed in a room with a ladder. At the top of the ladder, there was a bunch of delicious bananas. One of the monkeys started climbing the ladder, but as soon as he did, the scientists sprayed all of the other monkeys with cold water.

The monkey on the ladder was also sprayed with cold water, and all of the monkeys were removed from the room. Then, four new monkeys were placed in the room with the ladder, and the process was repeated. Whenever one of the monkeys tried to climb the ladder, the other monkeys were sprayed with cold water.

This continued until all of the original monkeys had been replaced. Eventually, none of the monkeys in the room had ever been sprayed with cold water, but they still wouldn't climb the ladder. They had learned not to climb the ladder, even though they had no idea why.

The lesson of this experiment is that we often follow rules and behaviors without really knowing why. So next time you find yourself doing something without really thinking about it, try to stop and ask yourself,

• "Why am I doing this?"

You might be surprised by the answer!