• Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca
        17·
        6 months ago

        This is in reference to a study where researchers put bananas in a primate enclosure (i think chimps, but would need to doublecheck) that were too high to reach. The chimps tried different solutions to reach the bananas, including stacking boxes. Suggests they are capable of abstract problem-solving, multi-step planning, insight, and other cognitive abilities.

        It’s not super well-known outside of psychology, so my only guess as to why its a far side comic is that it was in the news that week

        • LazerFX@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          There was a related one where they put bananas (or other tasty treats) in an enclosure, just out of reach, with a group of 5 or 6 primates. Every time they went to get it, they sprayed them all with water or did something else to prevent them taking it. Eventually they stopped trying. Then, they’d rotate out one, and the new individual would go for the treat, and the others would then stop them, sometimes violently (so they wouldn’t all be punushed). The new individual soon stopped doing this. Then they rotate out ALL the primates, one at a time. Soon, they group is attacking newcomers, stopping them from doing stuff without actually knowing why they’re being stopped, just… “This is the way we’ve always done it.”

          I know that there’s only one individual in this picture, so it’s not a directly related study, but it’s one that I’ve always thought about in interactions at work. Always ask “why” when people tell you things are done a particular way. Sometimes, it’s because the rules are written in blood - there’s a real reason, to stop you being stupid, hurting yourself or others. Sometimes, it’s because there was an issue in the past, but we’ve moved past the source of it… but haven’t re-evaluated the problem source to figure it out. And sometimes, it’s because some braindead middle manager not worth his over-bloated weight in peanuts decided it was to be that way, and everyone had to follow or be browbeaten into doing it… and despite that utter complete waste of oxygen being long gone, the mental anguish has eaten into the culture of the place, making it subtly toxic.