What Animals Can Teach Us About Reaching Our Goals

• The monkeys that learned fear: 
• Monkeys that don't fear snakes were introduced to some snakes while being forced to listen to loud noises. Some monkeys learned to fear but some didn't, instead saw the fear response of monkeys that fear snakes then learned to fear snakes too. 
• Conclusion: We learn to fear things when we associate them with another even. Moreover, if a child watched an adult reacting with fear to a certain situation the child will develop fear too.

• The frog that died in the boiling water: 
• When a group of frogs were thrown in boiling water they jumped and survive. However, when the same frogs were put into cold water that was slowly heated, all of them died because they didn't react.
• Conclusion: We can feel sudden changes but when the change happens over time we don't feel it until it is too late.

• The Rats that failed to swim: 
• A researcher got rats that could swim for 80 hours continuously, then frightened them by making them believe that they were stuck before throwing them in water. Many rats died after a few minutes of swimming! The rats didn't drown due to lack of ability but at some point they just gave up swimming and died. 
• Conclusion: When we feel in control we can reach our maximum potential, if we feel out of control we give up even if we have the required skills.

• The dogs that learned to be helpless: 
• Few dogs were placed in room that has a switch which turns on electric current and shock the dogs or turn it off. When the dogs were first shocked they kept jumping around until one dog pushed the switch and discovered that the electric current stopped. Dogs learned how to turn off the shock. They were split into two groups,  first remained in the same room while the second was placed in a similar one that had a faulty switch. 
• When the second group was shocked the dogs tried to push the switch but nothing happened. The second group of dogs were returned to the first room then were shocked again but this time they never tried to push the switch. The dogs learned to become helpless as a result. 
• Conclusion: No one is born helpless but we learn how to become helpless when we face certain situations that we fail to deal with.