What 5 Monkeys Can Teach Us About Battling Coronavirus

Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Practice social distancing. At this point in the battle against COVID-19, we have a fair idea of what we are supposed to do to minimize the spread of the virus. This is a war. And the primary objective, now widely understood, is flattening the curve. We know what is expected of us, but whether we maintain this level of vigilance in the long run remains to be seen.

As a strategy, flattening the curve is designed to protect medical workers and patients from a barrage that could swamp hospitals and threaten patient care. If things go very well in the months ahead, the number of cases will be distributed over a manageable period of time instead of spiking during a shorter, but much more intense, interval. Vaccine testing has begun, but researchers predict it will be months before we see a viable mass-produced vaccine for the public.

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Our social behaviors have changed remarkably in the past two weeks: hugging, handshakes, kissing, and close taking have given way to verbal hellos and goodbyes, meeting remotely online, and anxious monitoring of health and the propinquity of infections. We need to face the bleak reality that this is going to be a part of our lives for a while.

But what happens to all these socially-desirable-at-the-moment behaviors after the vaccine arrives? Will we just go back to our old ways or are the new social norms here to stay? There is a vast literature on “norms” in social psychology that shows that we are greatly influenced by what we think other people expect of us. Once they take hold, social norms can constrain our impulsive responses and help to reduce uncertainty about how to behave appropriately. As an illustration, take the well-known story of a monkey experiment that apparently never actually took place.

Five Monkeys, Some Cold Water, and a Bunch of Bananas

Five monkeys are placed in a large cage. The hungry monkeys would love to snack on the bunch of bananas at the top of the cage, but they are beyond reach. Fortunately, there is a ladder available and the monkeys figure out that they can climb up to get the bananas. Just as one of the monkeys begins to climb the ladder, the experimenter sprays him—and the other monkeys—with a stream of cold water. Another monkey tries and they are all once again swiftly punished with the unpleasant cold water. The same thing happens with the third and fourth monkeys. They have now learned that the consequences of trying to reach the bananas are dire and aggressively prevent the fifth monkey from climbing the ladder in order to avoid the cold spray.

Here is the twist.

One monkey is taken out of the cage and a new monkey is introduced. He quickly begins to climb the ladder and is immediately pulled off by the other monkeys. Next, the experimenter replaces another of the original monkeys with a new monkey who does not know about the cold water. The other monkeys pull him off when this new monkey attempts to reach the bananas. Surprisingly, the other new monkey who arrived just before him, and has never been sprayed, participates!

After a while, the social norm is not to climb the ladder to the bananas, but none of the newly introduced monkeys has a clue why—if they could talk, they might say: “It’s just the way things work around here!" Although not an actual experiment, it is still instructive as an amusing story of how social norms get transmitted.

Learning these social rules occurs largely by vicarious means: by observing others and emulating their behavior. Norms tend to be socially contagious and positive reinforcement (i.e., being rewarded) for norm-following behavior strengthens them. After a time, much behavior becomes habitual and automatic, and it is seen as the ‘right’ way to behave—this is especially important.

Social norms serve a number of useful social functions

• They help to reduce uncertainty about how to behave appropriately—just follow the example set by other people!
• They constrain an individual’s impulsive responses.
• They reduce cognitive and emotional “load” (that is, placing a processing burden on the system that consumes processing resources and requires effort control).
• They facilitate group cohesion.
• They reduce uncertainty in ambiguous situations.
• In other words, social norms promote social efficiency.

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We do not normally question that with which we are most familiar. COVID-19 represents the exact opposite. It is new, unknown, and as a result, scary. We not only question the menace and scope of the virus itself, but the new topsy-turvy behaviors that go with it. Over time, our need to question the social norms we are adopting now will diminish. And this is OK because many of them are smart, healthy behaviors we should practice in the long run.

Let us hope that these new social norms will have the staying power to help govern behavior in the post-coronavirus world we all want to inhabit someday.