FWIW, that "experiment" really is a hoax from a 90's self-help book.

Simimlar experiments have been held, but with different, much weaker results.

Edit: the now deleted parent had a link to the so-called "five monkey experiment" that is debunked here: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/was-the-exp...

The difference, though, is there was no punishment. To make the cartoon match the article, instead of spraying the monkeys, there would just be a dead monkey near the bananas. Then the dead monkey is removed, and the others still know to fear the bananas.