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Benevolent deception: "The placebo button effect" » English to Latvian

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Source text in English

Over the course of many years, without making any great fuss about it, the authorities in New York disabled most of the control buttons that once operated pedestrian-crossing lights in the city. Computerised timers, they had decided, almost always worked better. By 2004, fewer than 750 of 3,250 such buttons remained functional. The city government did not, however, take the disabled buttons away—beckoning countless fingers to futile pressing.

Initially, the buttons survived because of the cost of removing them. But it turned out that even inoperative buttons serve a purpose. Pedestrians who press a button are less likely to cross before the green man appears, says Tal Oron-Gilad of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel. Having studied behaviour at crossings, she notes that people more readily obey a system which purports to heed their input.

Inoperative buttons produce placebo effects of this sort because people like an impression of control over systems they are using, says Eytan Adar, an expert on human-computer interaction at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr Adar notes that his students commonly design software with a clickable “save” button that has no role other than to reassure those users who are unaware that their keystrokes are saved automatically anyway. Think of it, he says, as a touch of benevolent deception to counter the inherent coldness of the machine world.

That is one view. But, at road crossings at least, placebo buttons may also have a darker side. Ralf Risser, head of FACTUM, a Viennese institute that studies psychological factors in traffic systems, reckons that pedestrians’ awareness of their existence, and consequent resentment at the deception, now outweighs the benefits.

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 4 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (4 total) Expand all entries

Entry #25481 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
305 x43 x24 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
Tomēr neskaitāmi pirksti veltīgi turpināja sniegties un spiest atslēgtās pogas
Flows well
Ieva Tazāne
+1
ēnas puse
Good term selection
Ļoti dabis​ki un labi​ izklausās
Ieva Tazāne
Entry #25487 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
olafspg (X)
olafspg (X)
Voting points1st2nd3rd
273 x46 x23 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+1
lieki to neafišējot
Flows well
Ieva Tazāne
+1
(Tal Oron-Gilad)
Other
Manuprāt, ​tulkotājs ​rīkojies p​areizi, no​rādot ieka​vās pētnie​ces vārdu,​ uzvārdu t​ā oriģināl​ajā rakstī​bā.
Inga Kromane
Entry #25249 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Ieva Tazāne
Ieva Tazāne
Letônia
Voting points1st2nd3rd
264 x43 x24 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
profesore
Other
Teksts pap​ildināts a​r informāc​iju, kas i​r noderīga​ lasītājam​.
olafspg (X)
+1
baltajiem meliem
Flows well
olafspg (X)
vēso un vienaldzīgo
Flows well
patīk labā​k nekā bur​tiskais au​ksto
Kaspars Melkis
līdz ar to aizvainojums par apmānīšanu pašlaik aizēno minēto labumu.
Flows well
Kaspars Melkis
Entry #25582 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
41 x400
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags