An experiment was once conducted with five chimpanzees in a cage. A banana dangling above them and a staircase placed beneath it.
When one curious chimp attempted to climb up and grab the tempting fruit, a sensor was triggered, spraying the rest of them below with ice-cold water. The curious monkey was removed from the cage and replaced with a new one, and the experiment repeated. Next time, a monkey attempting to reach for the hanging banana was set upon by the others to avoid being sprayed with the water. Soon after, another monkey was swapped out, the water switched off, and the test run again. And so on, until none of the chimps in the cage had been present during the initial experiment. Each one had now experienced the harassment for following their curiosity, but by now, understandably, none of the chimps were willing to reach for the banana for fear of being attacked by the others.
It turns out that this allegedly real “experiment” is likely only apocryphal, but it’s no stretch to imagine it to be true. It also poses an interesting question about the minds of chimpanzees’ closest relatives, human beings, when it comes to the fear of taking risks, and even more specifically to us as actors
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