WEBVTT - The Illusion of Control, Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.880 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:14.640 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:15.360 is Robert. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:19.520 Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And to begin today's episode, 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.880 I want to start by sketching out a little scenario 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:26.040 to help you imagine something and investigate your intuitions. So 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:28.639 I want you to imagine you are waiting on a 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.279 friend in the lobby of a casino hotel. Maybe you're 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.680 in Las Vegas, and you realize you've got some time 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.280 to kill, maybe fifteen minutes before your friend gets there, 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.839 and you've got a few spare bucks in your pocket. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.680 You kind of get the itch to go blow it 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.960 on one of the slot machines that keeps making all 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.000 these exciting noises nearby. And by the way, this is 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.240 just to illustrate a point. This is not behavior that 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.040 we're necessarily advising, because, oh, I don't know, we've done 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.600 episodes on slot machines before, and you know, even if 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.240 you plan to lose all the money you bet, there's 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.520 always the chance that you just might have too much 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:03.320 fun with them. 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.200 Yeah. Back in twenty fifteen, we did an episode titled 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:11.200 one arm Bandits the Science of slot machines, and I 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.520 found it rather illuminating myself. So I'd recommend anyone who's 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.920 interested and just just to what extent these are fair 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.679 or unfair, I recommend go back and listen to that 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.960 episode spoiler the House always wins. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.440 I haven't been to Vegas, but from what I understand, 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.560 there's a lot of fun stuff to do other than gambling. 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.560 Oh yeah, Vegas is great. My family and I went 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.160 out there for the first time a few months back, 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.520 and yeah, there's some great restaurants. You see the Hoover 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.600 Dam not too far away, and they have a tremendous 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.720 male wolf, so lot to see. 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:46.959 There is that one Omega Mart. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.000 That's Omega Mart. Yeah it's special. It's pretty great. 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.800 But anyway, so back to the scenario. So you decide 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:55.720 you're going to blow some money at a slot machine. 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.160 You go up to the machine, you put your money in, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.200 but you're new to this and you don't see the 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.400 button that spins the digital wheel. So you start looking 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.080 around and there's a lady sitting at the slot machine 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.600 next to you, and she plays these things all the time. 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.480 She sees you scanning the machine in confusion, and she 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.800 leans over and says it's right here, and she reaches 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.200 across and presses the button for you, And then you 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.640 see the wheel spin on the digital screen. It slows down, 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.280 there's a ding, and it's a bus. Do you lose 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.520 your bet? Now? Everybody's reaction to the scenario might be 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:34.480 somewhat different, but I think an extremely common reaction for 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.240 people to have would be annoyance and a feeling of 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.320 having been wronged by the woman who pushed the button 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.000 for you. And this could be for a number of reasons. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.800 Some of those reasons might be purely social, like it 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.560 might feel like a violation of your personal space by 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.720 a stranger. You might be upset that somebody robbed you 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.560 of the fun of pressing a button, because sometimes it 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.560 can be fun to press a button. But beyond all that, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.880 I think a very common reaction, even among people who 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.880 rationally know better, would be a feeling of having been cheated. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.760 This random stranger didn't just invade your personal space and 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.800 interrupt your fun. She lost your money for you. It's 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.680 her fault you lost that money and did not win. 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.480 At the same time, you would probably realize correctly that 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.720 a slot machine is not a game of skill. It's 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.399 a game of chance, and thus it literally makes no 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.600 difference whatsoever to your probability of winning whether you push 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.360 the button or someone else does. It is not as 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.160 if you placed a bet on, you know, throwing darts 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.400 at a dartboard or something where conceivably you might be 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.520 better at hitting the center than the person who throws 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.960 the dart for you. Everybody knows that with the slot machine, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.560 it truly does not matter who presses the button. And yet, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.040 even though we know this rationally, I think I think 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:59.040 if I personally were in this situation, it would be 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.200 really hard for me to shake the feeling that this 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.400 stranger had cheated me out of possible winnings. So I 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.960 would know it's not true, but it would just be 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:13.680 an extremely tenacious illusion that whoever presses the button really matters. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.080 Yeah, this is interesting to think about it. I hadn't 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.800 really thought about it so much. You know, we'll get 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.760 into the idea of other rituals associated with this sort 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.719 of behavior, like, you know, am I wearing my lucky 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.200 shirt or not? When I go to gamble, or when 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.039 I go to watch my favorite sports team or take 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.320 a test, et cetera. So it's interesting to think about 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.960 how this scenario I push the button versus a stranger 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.279 pushes the button. How that compares or doesn't compare to 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.800 the luck related scenario of I push the button with 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.119 my lucky shirt on or I push the button without 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.040 my lucky shirt on. Are we more likely to disregard 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:53.279 the logic of the latter? What have we left the 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.000 stranger wear our lucky shirt? That still doesn't seem right? 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.520 Well, yeah, these are all you know, who presses the button, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.600 whether they're wearing their lucky charm or not. These are 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.960 all variations on the idea that there is something you 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.719 can do to increase or decrease your chance of winning 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.320 at the slot machine. And it's just not true, Like, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.400 none of these things influence what your chances of winning are. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.520 Your chances are equally low no matter what. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.320 Yeah, your chances are all locked up in that machine already, 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:27.640 they are programmed into it. And who pushes that button? 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:33.560 Who actually ends up executing the final the final button push, 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.680 whatever form that takes in a given gambling machine, it's 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:38.960 already been figured out by the. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.880 Machine, right, And so I sketched out this scenario to 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.799 illustrate a concept in psychology called the illusion of control. 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.280 So the illusion of control refers to a common type 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.920 of cognitive illusion, a mistaken pattern of reasoning in which 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.719 we overestimate the extent to which our choices or behavior 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:05.599 can effect outcomes, even totally random or uncontrollable outcomes. So, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.040 according to illusion of control theory, either we think we 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.320 have control over an outcome when we have no control 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.640 at all, or we do have some control, but we 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.240 think we have more control than we actually do. So 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:22.880 today we're kicking off a series where we're going to 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.120 take a look at research on the illusion of control, 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.240 to what extent the concept is a valid description of 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.200 how we think, what the evidence for it is, some 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.799 criticisms of the concept, how it works in theory and practice, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.159 and why we might experience it to the extent that 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:39.520 we do. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.080 Yeah, and it's going to be interesting to talk about 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:44.839 this and think about it, especially in a world that 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.200 can very often feel rather out of our control, and 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.480 that as well discuss plays into the whole scenario. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.599 That's right. But before we dive into the research on 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.360 this subject, I thought it would be good to kick 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.520 off with some just classic examples that we can think 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.880 of from day to day life stuff. You don't even 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.280 need an experiment to see. You can just you know, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.360 it happens to us all the time we do it. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.040 You already mentioned Rob the idea of lucky rituals that 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.000 people put in place to help steer the outcome of 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.960 a public event on which the ritual has no rational 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.200 reason to have any influence. So whether your football team 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.640 wins that, you know, does that depend on whether you're 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.320 wearing your lucky shirt. And people might participate in lucky 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.160 rituals like this for a number of different reasons. Not 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.840 all of those reasons would be a genuine expectation that 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.560 it will help influence the outcome of the event. But 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.720 to the extent that someone does feel it will actually 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.080 change the probability of you getting the outcome you want, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.680 that would be an example of the illusion of control. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:51.080 Yeah, yeah, because sometimes these activities, you know, various lucky items. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.800 Sometimes it's probably more in the fun category than anything. 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.480 You know, you wear your lucky scarf to go enjoy 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:03.000 a football game other football fans. You know, yeah, it's 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:03.760 just a fun thing to. 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.120 Do, or just to regulate your own emotions. Like it 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.400 might be literally functional, but operating on the self instead 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:10.600 of on the external world. 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.120 Yeah. Yeah, and as always, you know, to what degree 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.920 does something become maladaptive or a hindrance. I mean, you 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.960 do hear cases of Okay, someone's wearing their their lucky 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.560 shirt to a game. Okay, fair, someone's wearing their lucky 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.360 underwear to a game. Fair, Someone's wearing their lucky underwear 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.280 to this game and they wore it to last game 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.679 and hasn't been washed since last game. You hear about 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.240 cases like that as well. And I don't know, I 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.880 think maybe in some of those cases there's another discussion 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.840 to have there, But I don't know. Sports and their rituals. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.000 There's a lot going on here. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.479 Yeah, that's the version that's truly maladaptive. 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.240 Now other times, you know, I think we shouldn't dismiss 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.040 the importance of religious faith in all of this, particularly 0:08:54.080 --> 0:09:00.840 regarding amulets. Various traditions, various religions out there have some 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.679 sort of an amulant tradition, some sort of essentially a 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.640 lucky charm tradition, be it a crucifix or a small 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.360 statue of a deity that you may carry around with 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.560 you and that may be used casually or you know, 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.880 very devotedly. There are different approaches to that as well. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:21.040 There's all spectrum in that area of religious faith as well. Well. 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.839 Yeah, and I'd say that might well be one of 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.480 those things that is literally efficacious in some way. Maybe 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.040 not in the sense of changing the outcome of a 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.320 game or something, but it does change something about you 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:34.880 and is helpful in that way. 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:35.640 Yeah. 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:36.440 Yeah. 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:38.720 And then there's the notion that a lot of times 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.360 the addition of a lucky totem or a lucky practice 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.240 of some sort very often does not necessarily induce added 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.360 cost or burden. You know, even if we're mostly dismissive 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.280 of the idea that said item or said activity will 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:57.440 enhance our luck or will make some sort of experience 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.480 you know, passes buy with more ease. And even if 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.040 we're not we don't have a huge investment in that idea. 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.679 It kind of comes down to, well, why not, right, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:09.040 is it going to hurt? I might as well have 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.880 the amulet on me. Maybe it will help if there's 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.080 a one percent chance it helps, great, because all it 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:16.840 is just setting in my pocket. 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.440 Right and you know, I plan to get into this 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.640 more in one of the later episodes in the series, 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.959 maybe in part two. But there is a question of 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.720 to the extent that we experience an illusion of control, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.280 why do we experience one? Are there ways in which 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.400 it might actually be beneficial to human life even if 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.160 it's generating false beliefs? 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.960 Yeah? I mean we kind of get into that basic 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.400 area of like, yeah, and it makes life a little easier, 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.120 and it's not hurting you, it's not hurting other people, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:44.640 then why not? 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.640 Okay? I want to mention another example from everyday life. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:49.680 This one comes up a lot when people think about 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:54.040 illusion of control. The closed door button on an elevator. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:58.840 Does that button actually do anything? I think this example 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.880 actually has two levels of possible illusion of control. The 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.440 first one and we can quibble with whether this counts 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.319 as illusion of control or not. But the first level 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.559 is the question of whether the closed door button actually 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.080 closes the door. I was reading some articles about this 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:20.280 and was getting some contradictory conclusions from them, but like 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.200 according to there was an article in the New York 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.880 Times that cited some people in the elevator industry who 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.959 says who say that in most cases the button actually 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.680 does not change how fast the door closes. Maybe it 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.880 does in some percentage of elevators, but in the majority, 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.240 at least within the United States, it doesn't. I was 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.400 reading in another article that lifts in the UK are 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.640 more likely to have a fully functional closed door button 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.280 that does accelerate how fast the door shut. Elevators in 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.120 the US most of the time close on a timer, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.120 and even when the closed door button is functional, it 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.800 probably works on a delay from when you press it 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.560 instead of immediately, So it's really questionable how much faster, 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.959 if at all, the doors will close after the button 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.600 is pressed. So I think the answer is not totally 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.400 clear on how often the closed door button does anything 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.400 in the States, but many people consider these buttons in 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.560 the US just a placebo. It does nothing except maybe 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.120 makes the passengers feel better. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.160 Sometimes I feel like the closed door button exists mostly 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.640 to enhance the awkwardness of reaching for the open door button. 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.040 When someone tries to catch the elevator behind you one 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.199 of the doors close closing, will they correctly assume that 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.480 you were trying to help them, or will they think 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.520 that you were desperately trying to keep them from boarding 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.440 the elevator Like close faster. No one else on this 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:38.160 elevator with. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.360 Me that's a good point. Now, on the other hand, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.800 I think you could make a good case that the 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.680 closed door button shouldn't count as illusion of control because 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.120 there is genuine ambiguity about whether it does something or not, Like, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.400 people really don't have information that should tell them whether 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.800 or not it works, and there's a reasonable assumption that 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.520 it should work. So pressing it is even whether or 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.160 not it works because you have a reasonable expectation that 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:04.600 it would. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.560 Yeah, it says it works. You're just doing what the 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:10.000 button is inviting you to. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.480 Do, exactly. But there's the second level of door closed 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.280 button that I think is definitely illusion of control, which 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.360 is have you ever seen somebody who's in a hurry 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.920 they get in an elevator, they not only press the button, 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.000 which may or may not work, they press the button 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.520 after watching somebody else press it already, like, oh, the 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.560 other guy didn't press it, right, I need to press 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:32.760 it to make sure it'll work. 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.920 Yeah, yeah, I mean sometimes you get on board an 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.560 elevator and there's this moment of uncertainty did the other 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.679 person press it? You didn't see them press it, you 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.319 would maybe assume they did, and it might be a 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.240 little awkward if you press it now, because then you're 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.120 saying like, I'm not sure you did this right, I'm 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:49.599 not sure you did it. I'm going to press it, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.480 but yeah, if you see them do it, that is 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:58.600 an extra level of social awkwardness right there. And I 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.800 guess you're leaning into the idea that, Okay, if I 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.800 press it more then it'll be more likely. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.000 To comply exactly. Yeah, maybe there is reasoning of that sort, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.599 like I wonder if button presses are cumulative. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.439 Yeah. I often fall into this as well. I mean, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.040 I'll do this thing where I go to use the 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.680 clicker to lock the car, and I won't press it once. 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:25.440 I'll press it two or three times, which confounds members 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.360 of my family when I do this, But for some reason, 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.480 like it just feels like three is more certain, even 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.400 though there's no cumulative effect there. There's not like, Okay, 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:34.800 if you press it three times to lock, you have 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.320 to press it three times to unlock it, which I 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.200 don't know. I'd kind of like that feature personally, but 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.680 that's just not how it works. One click should do it, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.920 but my mind thinks additional clicks would be necessary. 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.080 Triples is best. Then you know it's safe. 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.880 That's true, but it's not true. It's just one of 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.800 those things we do. Another thing, another like clear example 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:58.960 of this one that I think a lot of us 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.840 encounter rather frequent, and another potential placebo button is the 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.200 crosswalk button, and a lot of the same situations apply here. 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.200 You know, you get up there to the crosswalk, there's 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.440 someone else already standing there. You assume they pressed it already, 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.760 but you're gonna press it as well, or you're waiting 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.720 on it. Seems to be taking forever. You know it's 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.400 been pressed, you've pressed it once, Maybe press it two 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.520 or three more times to let it know that you 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.360 mean business. You need to get across the street, Throw 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.400 up the red light, throw up the little green walk 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.920 in or white or light up walking man. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.320 Also, as with the elevator button, there's legitimate question over 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.200 whether the button does anything or not. 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:38.720 That's right. I was looking into this a little bit, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.320 and the broad answer on whether the cross button works 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.720 at all seems to be a resounding. It depends so 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:50.880 different countries, different city traffic systems, They're gonna have the 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:55.040 button function differently. Sometimes it actually speeds up crossings, other 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.880 times it doesn't. But what do we do? We push 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.680 it anyway, And part of that is again, standing there, 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.920 you probably don't have anything else to do, Push it 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.600 a few more times and see if it works. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.520 As we already established, sometimes it's just fun to push 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:09.000 a button. 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.240 Yeah, I mean, you're in a situation where you either 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.880 have no control or you realize you have a limited 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.240 amount of control. What can you do. You can't get 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.320 out there and stop cars, you can't stop traffic, but 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.400 you can press the button again and again, and it 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:35.240 feels like at least you're doing something now. The illusion 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.920 of control also applies to situations in which we know 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.720 experience anxiety due to perceived lack of control. And one 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:43.640 of these, and I can relate to this a bit, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.720 is flying. Two examples I've read about with this scenario. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.600 Or of course, there's of course pre enduring flight routines. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.320 Many of these are so slight that we might not 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:58.640 even think about them as being pre flight rituals having 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.480 to do with an illusion of control. The examples given 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.840 in the Air Travel Design Guide include things like wearing 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.320 comfy clothing or brushing on one's teeth before a flight. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.520 I don't know, I those just sound like good things 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:13.800 to do before a long flight. 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.119 Yeah, but they also controlling an outcome. I mean that 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.359 just seems like that's what you do to feel good. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.480 Yeah, But I mean, I guess, and I can relate 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.640 to this a bit. It's like, maybe, like feeling good 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.320 is that thing you have control over, and so maybe 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.040 you've become more indulgent of those in a way to 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.520 sort of, you know, to make something that can be 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.399 uncomfortable more comfortable, which is just obviously you want to 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.600 do that. But also it's like so many things are 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.919 out of my control here, but the exact headpillow have 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.760 I have is in my control. The exact playlist I 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.440 download ahead of time is in my control. How you 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.080 know which movie I downloaded my phone prior to the flight, 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.439 that's within my control. I will do that, and I'll 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:52.720 put a lot of effort into. 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.040 That, and maybe from all of that effort at control, 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.960 there could be some conceptual creep where actually it makes 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:03.280 you feel like the plane is less likely to crash. 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.840 Yeah. I mean, and I don't even know if necessarily 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.359 everyone's mind directly goes there, you know, but it's like, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.560 you know, you're you're dealing with one thing that they 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.320 When I was reading this ear Travel Design Guide website 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:15.720 that they pointed out, you know, it's like there's a 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.120 lot going on when you fly. Obviously, you know you're 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:23.400 you're traveling, your your your your circadian rhythms are are interrupted, 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.360 you may eat lunch three times in a given day, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:27.959 that sort of thing, and then there are all these 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.760 other constraints. So there's a lot going on in the 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.760 mind and in the body. They also cite gamification as 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.360 a as a way that we interact with this illusion 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.960 of control. I found this bit interesting. This is a quote. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.600 The airport is a unique type of architectural typology where 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.879 the spaces are subdivided and arranged to usher large groups 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.960 of people to move uni directionally. This encourages people to 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.520 develop strategies to game the system and to feel competitive 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.120 with other passengers moving through the airport. 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.480 Oh my god, that's right. I feel seen that. That's 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.240 like I do not I'm not normally a competitive walker, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.199 like trying to get ahead of people walking, you know, 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.200 around me on the sidewalk. The only scenario in which 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.840 I catch myself doing that is at the airport, and 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.919 I want, yeah, that may be right. That it's like, 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.879 because it's funnel, you know, structured to have everybody moving 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:25.879 in the same direction, and it's so yeah, controlled like that. 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.439 It's some for some reason, makes you feel like I've 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:31.680 got to get in front of this this guy here, 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.560 you know, I've got Yeah. 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.399 So it's interesting to think about it from a design 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.800 standpoint where a lot of control needs to be taken 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.639 away from people going through this system, but you also 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:46.000 need to give them a sense of control, control over 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:48.600 little things, and and also realize that there's going to 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.199 be this illusion of control in place as well. But 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.960 you have another example to to to bring up here, 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.120 and this one is even more fun than flying. Oh. 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.600 I wonder if you had the same experience. So I 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:01.920 was thinking back to childhood, and this may be an 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.760 embarrassing admission, but I'm thinking about the illusory functionality of 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:12.560 objectively non responsive video game controls. A couple of examples here. 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.040 I am at the Pizza Hut. I'm a little kid. 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.280 I desperately want to play the Neogo machine or the 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.199 X Men Arcade cabinet, but I have no quarters, so 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.040 I can't play. But while these machines are idle, there 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.080 is a kind of pre recorded gameplay demo that loops 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.240 on the screen, so it looks like somebody's playing. You know, 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.359 the characters are walking around fighting the bad guys and stuff, 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.920 and according to vague memories, I can't be sure I'm 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:41.240 right about this, but I think I would sometimes go 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.919 up to the machine and falsely believe that I was 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:51.120 maybe somewhat partially controlling the gameplay in this demo by 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.600