Take just a moment if you will and read the following:

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! 

Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys has ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done around here.               ~Origins of this story unknown

This story is quite interesting as it makes for a very satisfactory analogy of culture.  Culture is very complex.  And while it forms much differently than simply from a squirting hose, this story hits upon one of several key issues that result form culture: you can live within a culture and not even know the fundamental reasons as to why it functions that way as a result of social conformity!

Just think about it; 99% (or even more for that matter) of people around the world do not have degrees in anthropology or sociology, but its fair to say that the 99% of people around the world (again, or even more) function just fine within their socio-cultural environment.

So where does culture’s often unseen, often unspoken “guidelines” come from? That’s an entirely different (and lengthy) discussion, but the fact of the matter is, they exist, and again, to the point that most of the time most of us can operate within our culture without even thinking about it.

So what does this mean? Just like the story of the monkeys, the point is that sometimes we do things without ever thinking about why we do them. . .and as a result, we sometimes do them without very good reason or we do them when there are better or more ethical ways of doing things.

For example, many Americans were probably never taught verbally that black is the appropriate color to wear to a funeral, and that the idea of wearing vibrant red, for example, would almost be offensive.  Likewise, when you go to a wedding, its understood that it is inappropriate for ladies to wear white, particularly an all white dress, as that color is reserved for the bride.  Most people in America are not explicitly taught these but most certainly understand this; In the end, these “guidelines” are just sort of absorbed by cultural osmosis, as is much of the rest of our cultural understanding.

One other quick example, did you ever think about how there are certain distances you stand away from people you talk with depending on how well you know them? If you don’t know them well you may stand some six or even eight feet away, but if you do know them well, you are fine with them being within three feet from you (or even closer if they are a significant other, close relative, etc.).

But did you ever think who taught you that? No one specifically probably, you just learned it by living in a society where the great majority of people all practice the same thing (of course, we are all individuals too so there are nuances to any cultural “rule”), and over the course of time, you got the cultural “hints.”

But what about this? Have you ever thought about how, again Americans will be the topic here, communication typically is conducted with the main purpose of exchanging information (not that it can be used otherwise)?  Most Americans speak with each other very directly trying to get the information they need in the shortest amount of time.  In other cultures however, Middle Eastern as one example, often use communication primarily for the purpose of relationship building, and often speak less directly letting the listener fill in the gaps - a relational interchange at a very deep level.  Gaining the needed information is important, but not as important as being relational.  At minimum, exchanging relational niceties is a must first before talking business (and “How are you doing?” is not enough as it is in the U.S.).

While the American culture may be very effective at the timely exchange of information, it often lacks a relational intimacy that other cultures seem to have (this is not to say that Americans cannot be relational intimate with others, just that the American culture does not lend itself as easily as other cultures do).   Our individualistic society often proves this: people don’t want to be around other people all the time, as a result we change our communicating preferences to facilitate that.

We are busy and have little time (sidebar: look at how we use terms for time and it shows you our emphasis on it: save time, spend time with ____, manager your time, I need to buy some time).  Between technology and cultural preferences, many Americans suffer from the cocoon effect - where you leave your garage, drive to work, can do your errands and get meals through drive thru, enter your garage, etc.  One can virtually spend little to no time with other people if they desire, and since community is not as important as progress, we have arranged our culture to fit that preference.  Yet as social creatures, to some extent this does seem like a problem.(granted, there is no “correct” culture, as all offer their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, more relational cultures may be more socially-connected, but are not very efficient in their actions).  In many ways, though not exclusively, the American culture is starving for relationships so badly people create Internet communities so they have some sort of social connections! (but at a virtual arm’s length, ironically)

All this gets to the issue of survival.  We adhere to cultural rules because we need to survive within the culture that we live in.  We need to be part of the process in order to gain the things that we need to function (i.e. information, help, relationships, acceptance, etc.), just as the group of monkeys did.   So in this sense, cultural conformity is a survival tool that helps us relate to each other in predictable and agreeable ways.

Yet as has also been pointed out, culture is a necessary evil.  Perhaps that phrase is a bit harsh, yet at the same time it rings a bit of truth because as humans are able to function in their culture of origin with such little ease, we often do so without thinking why we do so.   As noted before, we can act or say things that may seem second-nature to us but if we think about it, may actually need some reformulation.

This conversation is a deep one. . .This posting actually only skims the surface, but it is hoped that it will shed new light on cultural influences and make a greater awareness that we all wear cultural lenses by which we see the world and part of those lenses are influenced by cultural conformity.

So it is with that, that the next time you decide to whack that monkey that is approaching the stairs, stop and give some thought about why you are reacting that way.  After all, it doesn’t always have to be “monkey see, monkey do.”

-  IgniteTheMind