I'm pretty sure it's just a metaphor.

More of a parable disguised as science. I do not approve. I'm looking for a dozen or more monkeys to establish this as fact or fiction. We do know about the "ham butt" problem (at 05:00 here), which is similar in the way that we do things even though we don't know the reason why.

I think there is some level of truth to the proposed phenomena, though like most things the reality is much more complicated than the presentation; there are a lot of factors to consider.

In one instance its pretty well accepted that social norms are a powerful force for humans, and in many ways a positive force for civilized society, or any society for that matter. There would be chaos if everyone was constantly bucking against established norms. Of course that is not to say social norms are always good or reasonable.

Second, there's individuality. There are those who will conform quickly and those who will buck against an established norm longer, or never stop no matter the consequences(anti-socials). The longer someone bucks against a bad norm, in the case of the stairs and bananas, the more likely they are to prove the norm unnecessary.

In the presented example there is only one method of communication among the monkeys, beatings. In such a circumstance I'd give the situation more credibility, however the point of the presentation is to apply it to real world phenomena, where we simply have the ability to question why which puts the whole scenario into loop.

I think the conclusion drawn at the end is a bit of far stretched tripe. While social pressure is a force oppressive governments use, it is not the only method. Yes they get those who don't question them to enforce their will through social pressure, but they will also continually try to maintain the reason behind their social norms as another form of fear. Social pressure will only last so long in the absence of perceived threat. To clarify, I'm not saying it magically goes away, there tends to be a lot of fighting when a norm changes. But it will happen unless there is something that can be pointed to by those who follow the norm and say, SEE WE WERE RIGHT! And again proving one is right using false 'truth' is just another factor in a line too limitless to explain why people fear a threat that isn't true, misrepresented or no longer valid.

I put this in my science playlist because it was about monkeys.

is this music from Xexyz

False logic - it extrapolates a generalization.

It ignores individuals, thoughts & feelings, judgements, power hierarchy, social structure, that food is a primary need. And general problem solving will find a way.

If this was true there would be ZERO crime because all individuals comply to the groups punishment.

- the 6th monkey is devious and faster, runs straight up the stairs without punishment.
- The 3rd monkey is the largest alpha male and the 5th monkey is a female. The 3rd monkey defends the mating partner who gets the food.
- The 7th monkey climbs the wall and jumps to the food. Takes it up the cage to hide from punishment.
- The 8th monkey is simply older and larger and beats the first two monkeys to a pulp and dares the others to try.

Yep, bullshit imo. And the bold statement "this is how government policies work" means absolutely nothing. It sounds good, but if you think about it, it's not. There may be an element of this that parallels government policy, but without any further explanation, i can only assume he means this is exactly how it works, and that's just crap.

However.

Replace the bananas with marijuana, the other monkeys with adults/whatever, the water with ear pieces that persuade the listener to believe anything it hears.......

These kinds of parables are nonsense, and people just tack on at the end their favorite causes... "and what happens with the monkeys is the same reason why liberals support multiculturalism."


A couple of years ago in a neurolinguistic programming (NLP) lecture that I sat in on, the lecturer told an absolutely retarded parable that she claimed was true.

She and her husband were at a zoo, and they saw some polar bears that were walking around in only half of their enclosure because there used to be a fence there. Once the fence was removed, the polar bears were so used to the fence being there, that they didn't realize they could walk farther now.

Her husband jumped into the enclosure and showed them that there was no fence there, but then jumped out in a hurry after they realized they could attack him... ha ha... get it? It's so inspirational.

I later learned this is just a story that a number of NLP lecturers tell as if it happened to them.