The Placebo Button
Over the summer, a former student “interviewed” me over e-mail about placebo buttons. If you’re unaware, placebo buttons are buttons that don’t actually do anything and are instead used to make a person feel in control of the situation. The most commonly referenced buttons are elevator close buttons (they just close on their own) and pedestrian press-to-cross buttons at intersections. Patrick did a small, informal study that he wrote about at EXBERLINER entitled Idiot buttons: The brutal truth about Berlin’s pedestrian crossings. He found this:
