Apparently there are two, but the one I'm thinking of goes like this:
You get a bunch of gorillas (say, four) in a cage. There's a lever there. Each time they pull the lever they get showered in cold water, so they quickly learn that pulling the shower lever is a Bad Idea (TM).
Then, you remove one of the gorillas, and replace him with a new gorilla. The first time he tries to pull the lever, the other three gorillas smack him down, so he too learns not to pull the lever -- though in his case, he has no idea about the shower part. He just knows that he isn't supposed to pull the lever, because the other gorillas don't like it.
So you continue replacing gorillas one by one, until none of the original gorillas remain. However, the new gorillas have learned that they must not pull the lever. They don't know why, exactly: but whenever they head for it their fellows stop them, so it must be bad, right? So after a while, you can remove the shower and the completely new gorillas still won't pull the lever, even though the original consequences no longer hold.
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Date: 2006-01-23 09:46 pm (UTC)You get a bunch of gorillas (say, four) in a cage. There's a lever there. Each time they pull the lever they get showered in cold water, so they quickly learn that pulling the shower lever is a Bad Idea (TM).
Then, you remove one of the gorillas, and replace him with a new gorilla. The first time he tries to pull the lever, the other three gorillas smack him down, so he too learns not to pull the lever -- though in his case, he has no idea about the shower part. He just knows that he isn't supposed to pull the lever, because the other gorillas don't like it.
So you continue replacing gorillas one by one, until none of the original gorillas remain. However, the new gorillas have learned that they must not pull the lever. They don't know why, exactly: but whenever they head for it their fellows stop them, so it must be bad, right? So after a while, you can remove the shower and the completely new gorillas still won't pull the lever, even though the original consequences no longer hold.
This is a model for corporate culture. ^_^