This is an experiment told to me by my Prof in a management class about an experiment carried out on chimpanzees.
The chimps were divided into two groups – say, A and B, and kept in two different large rooms. They were given canvases, some paint brushes and color vials.
When one of the chimps of group-A managed to take color from one of the vials and made a stroke on the canvas, it was immediately rewarded by a banana. The others in the group followed suit and were also rewarded. This carried on for sometime and whenever the chimps made a stroke, they would get bananas. This excited the chimps initially.
At the same time, in a different location, the chimps of group B also started off exploring the new things given to them and made some strokes on the canvas with their brushes. But they did not receive any reward. They started making strokes after strokes on the canvas. The new colors made them more inquisitive and excited other chimps too as they made number of color combinations out of the same set of colors.
