Scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage with a ladder to bananas at the top. Any monkey climbing the ladder would cause all monkeys to be sprayed with cold water. Over time, the monkeys learned that climbing the ladder resulted in being beaten by the others. When monkeys were substituted, the new monkeys quickly learned the same behavior without knowing the reason. This led to a group of monkeys that continued beating any monkey trying to climb the ladder, even though none of them had ever experienced the cold water punishment.