Fleas in the Jar: Are We Being Conditioned?

A few days back, I came across this small video and was both, pleasantly surprised and a little bit frightened. Pleasantly Surprised, because it was a different kind of a video, you know, not the usual forgettable ‘reel’ or a ‘short’ that makes fun of someone followed by weird music, entertains you for 15 long seconds, and vanishes from memory after a couple of minutes. By the time you have gone through 5-6 more ‘reels’ or ‘shorts’ of unknown people gyrating on a popular song that they do not even want to understand. You get the point.

Frightened, because, the title of the video was, “Are We being conditioned?” The video seemed quite old from the quality, so I trust many of you must have come across it sometime or the other. Still, if you want to watch it.

I decided to send it to a few of my groups and one of my friends replied, “Post it on LinkedIn”. I laughed it off.

Then did some reading, and watched a few videos and I came across terms like Groupthink, Idea Antibodies, and Asch Experiment. So I decided to post it on LinkedIn but in my own way.

Here is what I managed to grab.

The Experiment

The fleas in a jar experiment is a well-known scientific demonstration of how organisms can be conditioned to limit their behavior and action, even when there is no physical barrier preventing them from doing so. The experiment involves placing a number of fleas in a jar with a lid on it. The fleas will instinctively jump to escape, but will soon hit the lid and fall back down. After a while, the fleas learn that jumping too high will only result in hitting their heads on the lid, so they begin to jump only as high as necessary to avoid hitting the lid. This continues when the lid is removed and even when the jar is removed. Their offspring also follow the same pattern.

The above can be seen in various fields of life.

Learned Helplessness

This phenomenon occurs when individuals become conditioned to believe that they are powerless to change their circumstances, and therefore stop trying to escape or improve their situation.

In the organizational context, this experiment can be used to illustrate how employees can become conditioned to accept their current working conditions, even if they are suboptimal or even harmful to their well-being.

For Example, suppose employees are subjected to harsh or unfair treatment from management. In that case, they may begin to believe that they are powerless to change their situation and stop speaking up or advocating for themselves.

Groupthink / Asch Conformity Experiment

Will you jump over a bridge if all your friends do? Chances are, you will.

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which a group of people makes a decision or takes an action because individual members of the group are more concerned with maintaining group harmony than with objectively evaluating the situation at hand. It may not be the best option or may even be detrimental to the group as a whole The term was first used in 1972 by?social psychologist?Irving L. Janis.

It often occurs in highly cohesive groups with a strong sense of shared identity or purpose, such as teams, committees, or even entire organizations. When groupthink takes hold, group members tend to suppress dissenting opinions and conform to the dominant viewpoint, even if it may be incorrect or misguided.

Similar to the fleas in a jar, groupthink can create a "lid" or barrier that limits the range of ideas and perspectives that the group is willing to consider. This can be detrimental to the organization as it may prevent the group from making informed decisions or exploring innovative solutions.

Some common symptoms of groupthink include:

• An illusion of invulnerability, where the group feels overly confident and optimistic about its decisions or actions.
• A belief in the inherent morality or righteousness of the group, which can lead to the demonization of outsiders or those who disagree.
• Self-censorship, where members withhold their true opinions or concerns to avoid conflict or disapproval from the group.
• Pressure on dissenters to conform, including ridicule or rejection from the group.
• A false sense of unanimity, where the group believes that everyone agrees, even if that may not be the case.

Groupthink can be very damaging to decision-making processes, as it can lead to flawed decisions and missed opportunities. To guard against groupthink,

• Encourage open communication and the free exchange of ideas
• Actively seek out dissenting opinions
• Create an environment that fosters open communication, diverse perspectives, and constructive disagreement.
• Observe the body language of members, actions speak louder than words
• Ask questions, the first response can be deceptive

Groupthink is more common then we think, take a break and watch this.

Idea Antibodies

Just like our bodies develop antibodies to fight off external threats, over a period of time, organizations also tend to develop an autonomic response to kill ideas. We are afraid of something we don’t know about. We like to stick to what we know, after all, it has got us where we are today!

I came across an article by?Graham Brown-Martin, that lists 13 common reasons that contribute to the killing of ideas in an organization

• Fear
• Hierarchy
• Command and control leadership
• Focus on short-term results
• Risk of cannibalizing existing business
• Over-reliance on data
• Lack of purpose beyond profit
• Lack of autonomy
• Lack of process to nurture the development of new ideas
• Working in silos
• Micromanagement
• Fixed and narrow job descriptions
• Employee disengagement

All of the above teach us to have a Fixed Mindset rather than a Growth Mindset.

But, the future is not gloomy and dark. With a little effort, a lot can be done to create an environment where ideas are welcome, and effort is appreciated. Not all ideas may turn out to be commercial success. You don’t want them to. What you want is a culture that invites employees to at least make efforts to contribute to something new.

Give them a chance

In one of my previous organizations, a dedicated e-mail ID was created to provide ideas that would boost productivity, cut costs or make process improvements. After a careful evaluation, the idea was implemented, quantified results were shared with the entire company along with credit and a cash prize was provided to the person who came up with it.

Embrace Failure

Tom Watson, the then CEO of IBM was once asked by an executive if he is going to fire another executive whose $5Mn (a big amount for the 1940s and 1950s) project failed.

“Fire Him? I just paid for his tuition!”, Watson is supposed to have said.

Other ideas to avoid breeding fleas in an organization.

• Leaders must take a back seat for a while, as their opinion can influence suggestions.
• Appreciate efforts and creativity, even if it fails once or twice. It will eventually succeed.
• Allow employees to submit opinions and suggestions anonymously.
• Encourage team members to express their views against a proposal, keep it healthy and objective and avoid Straw manning.

Oh! And yes, in all of the above, if you replace ‘employee/team member’ with (your) ‘child’, it will start making more sense.

Thank you for making it to the end. Your feedback is much appreciated. If you found the article helpful, make sure to share the knowledge with the world.