Scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage with a ladder leading to bananas. Whenever a monkey climbed the ladder, the other monkeys were sprayed with cold water. Over time, the monkeys began beating up any monkey that tried to climb the ladder to avoid the punishment, even though they did not experience the cold water themselves. When monkeys were substituted, the new monkeys and even original monkeys continued beating any monkey that tried to climb the ladder, having learned this was the norm without understanding the original reason.