Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vocal Bam and I've got another classic episode
Speaker 1: for you today. Our question, do crosswalk and close door
Speaker 1: buttons on elevators really do anything? Former host Christian Sager
Speaker 1: explains plus sebo buttons, Hey, brain Stuff, this is Christian Sagar.
Speaker 1: Pushing buttons is super satisfying. A button represents a modicum
Speaker 1: of control in our chaotic world. In the moment of pushing,
Speaker 1: you are the brief master of your own fate. All
Speaker 1: the forces humankind have harnessed have come to bow under
Speaker 1: your fingertip. But does pressing buttons always have the promised effect?
Speaker 1: Do close door buttons and elevators and pushed to cross
Speaker 1: buttons at crosswalks actually do anything? Well? Physically speaking, the
Speaker 1: answer is not always Psychologically the jury is out, so
Speaker 1: let's tackle the physical section first. As of two thousand four,
Speaker 1: a representative from the Department of Transportation in New York
Speaker 1: City said that more than seventy of their crosswalk buttons
Speaker 1: had no effect on their traffic signals, and as in
Speaker 1: the UK, transportation officials reported that an unknown number of
Speaker 1: crosswalk signals function automatically regardless of whether anyone presses the button.
Speaker 1: The estimates that they could give regarding non functional buttons
Speaker 1: ranged from eight percent to but why many crosswalk buttons
Speaker 1: are relics of a time before signal patterns were controlled
Speaker 1: by computer systems to help streamline traffic. Removing the buttons,
Speaker 1: especially in large cities like New York, could cost millions,
Speaker 1: so the folks in charge have generally chosen to leave
Speaker 1: them standing. In newer traffic control systems, for example, the
Speaker 1: split cycle offset optimization technique, some people just like to
Speaker 1: call it scoot well. For example, municipalities can program buttons
Speaker 1: to turn on only some of the time. Now, think
Speaker 1: of an intersection with lots of motor traffic twenty four
Speaker 1: hours a day, but pedestrian traffic mostly during business hours
Speaker 1: during the day, when walk signals will likely be useful.
Speaker 1: During every signal cycle, the buttons don't work. The walk
Speaker 1: signal comes automatically at night, when fewer people are on foot,
Speaker 1: you have to press the button to stop traffic and
Speaker 1: cross the street. Meanwhile, reports on the functionality of elevator
Speaker 1: closed door buttons vary by the source. The urban myth
Speaker 1: that they're usually fake or that they're only operable with
Speaker 1: the use of a key by emergency or repair personnel.
Speaker 1: Seems to stem from the Americans with Disabilities Act of
Speaker 1: it's current accessibility guidelines specified that elevator doors must remain
Speaker 1: open for at least three seconds. In practice, this law
Speaker 1: may well render closed door buttons useless to the particularly
Speaker 1: impatient of us. But there's no reason to think that
Speaker 1: they're all, or even mostly, placebo buttons. Yet. You heard
Speaker 1: me write placebo buttons. This is the psychology term for
Speaker 1: buttons that are designed to not do anything. They're named
Speaker 1: after the placebo effect. In brief, the placebo effect is
Speaker 1: a confirmed phenomenon in which people experience measurable clinical results
Speaker 1: with fake treatments due to the apparent power of their
Speaker 1: belief in the treatment. In the world of buttons, placebos
Speaker 1: have been installed on purpose in some workplaces in the
Speaker 1: form of fake thermostats. According to an informal survey conducted
Speaker 1: by the online publication Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News
Speaker 1: that Sounds Extremely Interesting, a majority of h VAC professionals
Speaker 1: have installed placebo thermostats during their careers, or fifty one
Speaker 1: out of seventy respondents at any rate. It seems that
Speaker 1: managers sometimes hope that employees who would otherwise waste time
Speaker 1: complaining about the temperature will be placated by pressing a button,
Speaker 1: even if it doesn't change anything. After all, even the
Speaker 1: illusion of control can make us happier. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang and written by Me in the
Speaker 1: way Back for Brainstuff's YouTube series. If you like our
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Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics that probably
Speaker 1: aren't playing a psychological trick on you. Visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.