Why Do People Push Placebo Buttons?

You only have to stand at a corner waiting for the light to change to 5 minutes once before you start pushing the buttons again.

In Toronto I know at least some of the crosswalk buttons work – there’s one on my way to work that if you don’t push it, then you don’t get a walk symbol at all. And every building I’ve lived in the door close button definitely works – the door will stay open about 30 seconds if you don’t push it, but close right away if you do.

I don’t have a thermostat that I can access at work, but I’d believe that one – I’ve called maintenance guys to fix the temp in my office so many times and they always assure me it’s 21C.. even though my fingernails are turning blue!

I used to work in a bullding co-occupied my military folk. The elevators all had the ‘close-door’ buttons enabled, and the sliding glass doors on the front of the building would not open without a swipe card – or stay open if someone walked into the beam. Despite the numerous warning signs about the doors, there would be a ‘Maxwell Smart’ incident at least twice a week, as someone would smack their nose on the glass as the door shut.
Funny.

Zeytoun wins this thread with common sense.

Is it really a mystery why people push buttons? It isn’t really a placebo effect. If a button is present, it’s entirely reasonable to assume that it does what it says it will do, even if it’s effect is difficult to casually quantify.

My city has the same thing Alison’s does. If you don’t press the button, even when the light turns green the walk sign doesn’t light up. Also, I’d say about half of the signal lights here are timer based. The rest are sensor based, meaning if you don’t press the button, you’ll be stuck for a while. Now, downtown Dallas is a bit different. As I recall, the crosswalks don’t have buttons at all because the lights are timed.

As for the elevator buttons, I’d guess that the “open door” button is a dummy, too. It never seems to work

after all, it gives you something to do while you wait.

I always called the “door close” button in the elevator the “zombie invasion button.” I taught my little sister this and I have no reason to think she knows what it’s really for.

On a more srs note, in some parts of Portland, I’ve noticed that the walk sign won’t appear when traffic stops unless I press the button by the cross walk. I always thought that was kind of unnecessary.

Out here in Japan the “close door” button always works and the instinct of the last person into the elevator is to push it. Then a polite female voice comes on to inform you that the door is closing.

The last time I was in the States, the non-functioning button drove me nuts – how easily our ideas of normalcy can change….

I work in a shopping center that has just been renovated and the brand new elevators have close-door buttons. They’re right next to the open door buttons (to keep the door open for others to get in), so why shouldn’t it work?

A more interesting question is why do people repeatedly press the buttons at traffic lights, or press it when they can see somebody else already has? Surely if the button works, pressing it once should set it into motion. It’s not like pressing it repeatedly is going to make it work faster.

When I feel in controll, I’m in controll. Even if only in my own head.

Here in Australia the lights don’t turn green UNLESS you push the button in the previous cycle. Doesn’t make much sense? I know.

So you come to a crossing and there’s no cars going except the ones that are turning, but the little man is red. You press the button and he stays red. The lights change and the cars pass in front of you. Then when the lights change again (so it’s the same situation as when you got to the crossing) the little man turns green.

‘close’ buttons in elevators in Japan do work. it is not uncommon to see someone hit the button as they depart the elevator as a courtesy to those still waiting to reach their floor too.

@Kalel Yes, all this talk of buttons is clearly distracting you from your serious work of commenting on internet posts you’re not interested in.

People are presumably less likely to dart into traffic if they think they can cause the light to turn green by pushing the button.

They are not placebos where I live. Perhaps in New Yourk people are too stupid to figure such things out but where I live the walk buttons do actually start a sequence that will change the light much more quickly than if you simply wait.

This post makes an assumption that I think is an incorrect one. One would hope that those who push the button do not know for certain that it does not work.

In my area, nearly all of the buttons work. If nobody pushes the buttons, the traffic lights continue to work, but there is never an opportunity for someone to cross the street. There is always traffic… whether straight-through traffic or turning traffic… passing through the crosswalk.

In fact, I have seen many people who, like fools, do not push the button, then act frustrated when they can’t cross forever.

Not truly understanding how the button works (no, it is not an instant button to change the traffic signal that moment) leads some to believe they do nothing. However, there is never a clear understanding.

I cannot walk up to a crosswalk and KNOW whether the button does anything useful, whether it has been deactivated, how that particular button will function. Some will almost appear to begin changing the signal immediately… others take their time.

Without consistency and without an interface to show whether the button is activated or deactivated, the user is only left with pure speculation and assumption. So, if there is a possibility it might be functioning, I’m going to press it. If I know for sure that it absolutely does not work and is not needed, I won’t press it. It’s that simple.

It isn’t about a bunch of troglodytes pushing disabled buttons because they have been programmed to do so. It’s about the lack of proper communication. If a button has truly been disabled, it should be removed. If it still exists, it must be because it still works.

Where I’m from (Denmark), they work at night-time, and if you don’t press them, it will stay red, even as cars are allowed to drive.

Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out?
How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence?
Will his tortured mind give in to it’s uncontrollable desires?
Can he withstand the temptation to push the button, that even now, beckons him ever closer?
Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history, at the mere push of a single button?
The beautiful shiny button.
The jolly candy-like button.
Will he hold out, folks?
Can he hold out?

this article is retarded. people press placebo buttons because not all the buttons are placebo! if you have some statistics on the amount of usage placebo buttons get vs working buttons, that’s worthy of an article. otherwise, this is just another pointless time-wasting article that’s trying to mislead people who don’t have critical thinking reading skills.

Another person from Toronto here. We have plenty of pedestrian crossing buttons that not only work but will only provide a walk signal to pedestrians if they are pushed.

As well, most close door buttons in elevators do work here.

I live in Los Angeles and in my area the crosswalk buttons work. If not pressed, the light will change, but an orange hand will stay on the crosswalk sign, instead of the walking person.
But people who stand there and press it constantly! What gives?! Don’t they realize it wont change the light faster?!

That explains why I couldn’t get across a particular street last time I visited the US. Thanks a lot America.

The ‘door open’ button in my library elevator did something. If you pressed it while between floors it would stop, and you would be stuck there until someone on a floor pushed the elevator call button.

Also my experience has been than crosswalk buttons must be pressed for the walk sign to come on, except in places like Seattle and NYC.

I work at a camp and the thermostat thing is definitely real. When we first transferred one of our buildings to an automatic thermostat, groups complained that they couldn’t change the temperature. So we put the old thermostats back up but we just didn’t connect them to anything. No complaints since.

It’s always amused me when I’m alone on a hotel elevator with the Lobby button lit up and someone else gets on before I reach the lobby—they see the L button lit up but they press it anyway. Yep, we should get there quicker now…:)

So long as some buttons do something and some buttons don’t, non-psychic people will resort to pushing the non-doing-something buttons.

The New York City Department of Traffic have already said that it would take over $1 million dollars to take down all the disabled P-T-W buttons, so they just don’t replace them during normal construction.

As for people who press P-T-W buttons consistently, I like to equate the number of times a person presses a P-T-W button is directly proportionate to their impatience and therefore their unintelligence. No way does pressing it more than once help. I see youngsters yelling at the street light: Come onnn! Reflection on video gaming?