The Panda Project

A few years back, the San Diego Zoo heard from the Chinese government that its request for a panda had been approved. The zoo would have exactly one year to finish the enclosure and receive the rare animal. Officials were overwhelmed. It would bring in much-needed revenue, and it would let them claim to be one of the few zoos in the world to house a panda. Fortunately they had been preparing for five years. They had a state-of-the-art enclosure planned and the money already raised. State of the art was an understatement: native bamboo from the panda's region, waterfalls, rolling grassy hills, ropes to climb, and plenty of sunlight. No expense spared.

Six months later, with the structure half up, the zoo received an odd shipment. The panda had come six months early. Their Chinese liaison said the early arrival was unavoidable, and that they would have to take the panda now or give up hope of ever having one. So they held onto it and tried to make it comfortable in a spare cage they had on hand. Construction resumed at a harried pace and was finished, inspected, and ready in three months. A victory. There was just one problem.

When officials unveiled the new panda and the new enclosure to the world, they found that their prize would not move outside the imaginary boundaries of the old cage it had been kept in during construction. It paced inside a 30-by-20 outline and left the newly built playground untouched. A week later they started to panic. Expert zoologists were brought in. Finally the zoo ran an ad in the paper asking for suggestions, with a $10,000 reward.

So what would you suggest?

I heard this story from a psychologist presenting on the power of metaphor. Here, the panda is the problem, and the lush environment around it is life happening outside the problem being avoided. As I have retold it to the people I work with, I have gotten all kinds of answers:

• Get another panda.
• Move its food outside the box.
• Put something it likes to play with outside the box.
• Have someone guide it across the imaginary border to show the boundary is not real.
• Place treats closer and closer to the edge, then, once it is moving, one just past the line.

The worst solution I have heard came from the presenter's husband, who was told the story during a deep depression. His answer: do nothing, the panda will eventually run out of room to poop. Pretty indicative of where he was emotionally.

What the story lets you do is put your own problem onto the panda and play armchair therapist. Here is each solution in its proper terms:

• Get another panda. Increase social support.
• Move the food outside the box. Negative reinforcement (removing something to increase a desired action).
• Put a toy outside the box. Positive reinforcement (adding something to increase a desired action).
• Guide it across the border. Modeling, or leaning on a trusted guide who can teach you about the world (a therapist, a member of the clergy, a parent, a teacher).
• Treats to the edge, then past it. Behavioral shaping: rewarding small steps toward the outcome until you are rewarding the outcome itself.

When we are struggling, it helps to relate the problem to something outside ourselves so we do not personalize it so much. When we personalize, our feelings, ego, and biases get in the way of the problem-solving skills we already have. Getting some distance, and talking about the panda in the room, lets us practice those skills and see how everyday solutions apply to our own situation. What panda are you having trouble moving?