The Placebo Effect Not Just On Drugs

dvdme writes "It seems the placebo effect isn't just valid on drugs. It's also a fact on elevators, offices and traffic lights. An article by Greg Ross says: 'In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the 'close door' button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. Similarly, many office thermostats are dummies, designed to give workers the illusion of control. "You just get tired of dealing with them and you screw in a cheap thermostat," said Illinois HVAC specialist Richard Dawson. "Guess what? They quit calling you." In 2004 the New York Times reported that more than 2,500 of the 3,250 "walk" buttons in New York intersections do nothing. "The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on."'"

Comments

This explains the political process

[Cornwallis]

I keep voting and nothing new happens.

Re:This explains the political process

[alen]

what do you expect to happen? i've lived in the US almost 30 years and everyone wants a government check and free health care but they don't want to pay for it.

after 30 years i like the US, A LOT

Re:This explains the political process

[ChefInnocent]

Oh for a mod point. I've come to look at the election process as voting for Coke or Pepsi when all I want is a glass of water. Transparent and no artificial additives.

Re:This explains the political process

[Smidge204]

More specifically, people want free health care but don't want "them" to have it, because "they" are moochers or lazy and are just taking advantage of the system. "If I get free handouts from the government, that's okay because I'm just getting my tax money back. God forbid someone else gets assistance, because that's my money, dammit!"

I know several people who have stated this point of view explicitly. The cognitive dissonance is tear-my-hair-out infuriating.
=Smidge=

Re:This explains the political process

[Schadrach]

I've known someone who was ranting about those "damn liberals and their socialist programs, trying to push socialist health care on us now" *while* filling out forms to apply for Medicare.

Re:This explains the political process

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I was actually wondering last night why governments in places like myanmar bother with voter intimidation when they only need to do a bit of number magic for vote counting (which happens away from the eye of [most] members of the public).

Iran tried that recently and it ended up being the closest they've come to losing control in the last 30 years. You might argue they just weren't slick enough, but that's a risk in and of itself too.

Re:This explains the political process

[AK Marc]

The government can give $10 to educational charities or $100 to prisons. I want the smallest government possible, so I'm for Head Start. That program causes a reduction in other services that, overall, saves me money.

But then, there are those that would rather spend $1000 on prisons than give one "needy" person $1 because they are anti-charity, not for an effective expenditure of money.

Re:Intentional?

[WrongSizeGlass]

If no one ever tells the masses that the elevator or crosswalk buttons don't do anything then of course they're going to keep pressing them. They may not help but the person doesn't know that it doesn't make a difference. At least when you hit something with a hammer you know something happened.

not placebo

[LiquidCoooled]

ok, so I arrive in a town at an intersection with a button.
I am going to press it because how the heck do I know whether its connected or not?

Re:not placebo

[Tsiangkun]

I'm the jogger. If you would have looked, made eye contact, and given me the right away to cross, I would not have to hit that button. I KNOW it causes you a longer wait. As soon as you learn that it is faster to yield to the pedestrian than to wait for a whole light cycle, the situation will change. As it is, you show no sign of yielding, so I hit the button.

Not sure "placebo effect" is accurate

[gosand]

"Placebo effect" implies a perceived improvement. I think it's obvious by the number of times people push elevator close door or street "walk" buttons, or fiddle with office thermostats, there is no perceived improvement.

Not sure author understands meaning of "placebo"

[ugen]

"Placebo" refers to situation where a patient does not know that the medication is inactive.

I am not sure about everyone, but I happen to know that most "close" buttons on elevators and most street crossing buttons to activate a pedestrian traffic lights do not work (the former by design, they are there for fire control mode, the latter mainly because they are broken :) ).
However, I still continue to use them and the reason is very simple:
1. They still work occasionally (as was the case just last week in a hotel elevator, where doors would close immediately by using close button, and stay open for extended periods of time without it, tested many times). It's a "nice surprise" when it works - and nothing is lost when it does not work.

2. They may be required occasionally. I know of a quite a few intersections where pedestrian traffic light won't turn green without the use of a button. It's not worth wasting a few traffic light cycles to find out whether the button is or is not needed. It's easier to just press it - if it works, great, if not - again nothing lost.

So, to conclude, this situation is nothing like placebo.

Well, perhaps except for thermostats, but I haven't worked in the office in years - and when I did, never bothered with these things.