Similar to the monkeys in the experiment, most people tend to conform to established social norms and behaviors without questioning where they came from. Cultural practices, society’s expectations and norms are passed down through generations, shaping individuals’ behavior without them fully understanding the reasons behind those norms.
Researchers once placed five monkeys together in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from the top of that cage on a string. The researcher then placed a ladder on the floor of the cage leading up to the bananas. When the first monkey tried to climb the ladder to reach the bananas, the researchers sprayed all five of the monkeys with freezing cold water for about five minutes straight.
Then, a little later, when a second monkey predictably tried to climb the ladder for the bananas, the researchers again sprayed all five monkeys with the freezing cold water for another five minutes. The researchers then got rid of the hose. They put it away and never brought it out again. But then, when a third monkey tried to climb the ladder for the bananas, the other four monkeys attacked him to keep him from climbing the ladder because they were afraid to be punished with the freezing water.
So then, the researchers removed one of the monkeys and replaced it with a new monkey that wasn’t part of the original experiment and had never gotten sprayed with the cold water. But just as soon as he spotted the bananas, grabbed the ladder to climb up to get the bananas, the other four monkeys attacked him to keep him from climbing the ladder. And when he tried it again, they all attacked him again. Eventually the new monkey learned not to go after the bananas because he knew that if he did, he’d get attacked by the other monkeys. The researchers then replaced the second monkey with a different new monkey and when this new monkey went for the bananas, the other four attacked him, including the new monkey that had never even been sprayed with the cold water.
So, the researchers kept replacing all of the monkeys one at a time, with a new monkey, until all five original monkeys were removed from the cage. And every time each new monkey went for the bananas, all the others attacked him and stopped him from climbing the ladder to get to the bananas, even though none of the new monkeys had ever been sprayed with the freezing cold water. So, all the new monkeys, even though they had never been sprayed with the water learned to resist being tempted by the bananas.
So, the researchers deduced that if they were to ask the monkeys why they didn’t try to climb the ladder to get to the bananas, they’d respond that it was “because that was the way that it’s always been done.” This is what is referred to as the “Five Monkey Syndrome.”
The five monkeys experiment can be applied to certain aspects of human behavior and societal norms. It perfectly demonstrates how we can be misguided by the heedless opinions and experiences of others, as well as institutionalized practices, traditions, and rituals that for unknown reasons, persist over time. How beliefs and behaviors can become ingrained in individuals, a community or society, even if the original reasons for those behaviors are forgotten.
Many times the opinions of others, no matter how well intended, aren’t always based in fact. And the information that they pass on to us may keep us from reaping certain benefits that we could enjoy if we just overlooked the erroneous information, did our own due diligence, and ventured forward in the direction that we personally choose.
Unfortunately, most people don’t take enough time (or have the desire for that matter) to do their own due diligence and seek out the truth on most subjects, so they tend to take the word of those that they trust or that they view as knowledgeable or expert in certain things. All the while, the information that is being passed on to them may be misleading half-truths or completely incorrect.
Most of what we know is what we have been convinced that we should believe – what we have been indoctrinated to accept as our reality – how we should endeavor to conduct our lives within the limitations that we have been educated to accept.
When we extend this credulous trait of accepting without verifying into the realm of our jobs and livelihood, we discover that most of us find ourselves stuck in the rat-race because of the conditioning and controlling constraints of the mainstream doctrine that has been ingrained into us. We’re afraid to deviate from established norms due to fear of judgement, rejection, or negative consequences.
Remember the information presented in chapters eleven and twelve? The doctrine that for generations has prescribed that we as workers must choose within the traditional and conventional occupational options that we are allowed to pursue as our life’s work. A doctrine that prevents us from even considering less orthodox opportunities that are present and readily available to us.
Similar to the monkeys in the experiment, most people tend to conform to established social norms and behaviors without questioning where they came from. Cultural practices, society’s expectations and norms are passed down through generations, shaping individuals’ behavior without them fully understanding the reasons behind those norms.
So if you have decided to think outside the box so to speak. If you are truly considering a side hustle to supplement your wage or current income, I guess it all boils down to how much you want to make, and how and when you want to make it. If you’ve worked for thirty, or forty, or fifty years and built up a 401K or government retirement, I guess collecting it during your retirement (since you’re not gainfully working to earn it) could be considered to be, like Mr. Buffett said, “…making money while you sleep.”
How many times have you heard… “If I can do it, you can do it too?”
The Social Media “Bait & Switch” Upsell.
I have family and friends all over the U.S., and some even in other countries. As a result, I have found that using social media as a means of keeping in touch with them is effective and even fun. I’ve been on Facebook social media for the past dozen years or so checking in with folks, viewing photos of peoples’ new houses, new babies, new cars, what they’re having for dinner, wishing people happy birthdays, happy anniversaries, and holidays, congratulating graduates and work promotions, welcoming weekends, sharing memes, extending condolences, and everything else that people use social media for.
Lately I’ve found myself spending an hour or two on some Saturday mornings just watching video reels of people that I don’t even know for entertainment and even information on various subjects. I’ve learned that you can follow people (I guess they’re considered “influencers”) that put out video reels on specific subjects of interest to their group of followers, that they claim expertise in, that they share brands of humor with, that have had a certain amount of experience in, or lots of other reasons for posting their videos.
The $7 training program is just the beginning.
One of the things that I have been seeing more and more often are people advertising their trainings for sale for “side hustles” for extra income opportunities. Some even advertise that you can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars per day, per week, or per month by doing such things as “Affiliate Marketing,” which is essentially reselling goods and services that are offered by larger, centralized companies like Amazon, etc.
They claim to be making thousands of dollars per day themselves, by being successful affiliate marketers; that they have developed an effective system that they’ve turned into a “training program” they will share with you for certain amounts of money. It usually starts out at an introductory offer of less than $10 (often $7) for their basic information that will get you off in the right direction to making hundreds of dollars per day, but eventually gets upsold to around $50, $100, or even several hundred dollars, depending on what additional training they’re offering.
My point isn’t whether or not affiliate marketing works. I’m sure it does for some that are willing to go through the learning curve of the business, continue researching specific products, will record and post their own promotional videos of those products, and every other aspect of the day-to-day running of that type of business. My main question is that if affiliate marketing is so easy that they lay claim to, “if I can do it you can do it too,” why is it then that they aren’t just making their several thousand dollars per day doing the business? Why would they feel it necessary to design and develop an entire training program, create a marketing plan, and execute that marketing plan that virtually hundreds or even thousands of others are selling as well?
Everybody’s doing the same thing.
They pop up everywhere on social media. They can be paid advertisements, unsolicited reels or videos or sites that you have gainfully sought out because you’re looking for a way to make a few hundred or thousand extra dollars a month, working from home. Their common thread is, “If I can do it, then you can do it too!”
They’re out there by the thousands. People recording themselves in their children’s school pick-up line, at their kitchen counter, walking through the park, or a dozen other settings. They claim that they started from nothing, figured out a system that they put into action and within a short time, they built their income to amazing amounts per day, week or month. Some claim to make as much as five to $10,000 per day!
They’ll train you to have the same success as theirs.
Here's an example of what I’m talking about. I often see video reels by a particular young, stay-at-home mom affiliate marketer that claims to be making over $35,000 per month through affiliate marketing that she runs out of her home-office. And I’m impressed and very happy that she is so successful. But the videos that I see are for the sale of her $7 program in which she reveals – and will train you in – to get similar success in just a few short months. My question is, why would she sell her training for that small amount of money and create virtually thousands of additional affiliate marketers that could potentially become competitors of hers?
And if she is making over $35 thousand per month doing her main affiliate marketing business, why has she started a different business that would take her away from her already lucrative, main business that would require roughly 5,000 individual $7 sales just to match her $35 thousand per month affiliate marketing income? Why not just ramp up her efforts in her original business?
Granted $7 probably won’t break the bank for most people, and maybe the training is worth it, and maybe there are some that can take that training, apply its principles, and turn it into several thousand dollars a week or month – just like it says it can…maybe.
My question is this: “If they’re making so much money every day, week, or month by working such a successful system, why are they taking time away from that kind of income generation just to design and sell you their method for $7, so you can go into competition with them?”
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Frank Dreesen
Email: frank@frankdreesen.com
Phone: (724) 398-9131
Frank Dreesen Las Vegas, Nevada