Member Since: 1/7/2010
Posts: 4,967
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The 'close door' button on your elevator is a scam
The 'close door' button on your elevator is a scam! Manufacturers reveal buttons make no difference
The close button in an elevator has been obsolete since the 1990s- This suggests those installed are fake and do not close the doors faster
- This is true for crosswalks in New York City and some office thermostats
- Experts say these placebo mechanism promote the illusion of control
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Most people do not have the patience to wait a few seconds for the elevator doors to shut, so they push the 'close' button to speed up the process.
However, some say this feature has been obsolete since the 1990s, suggesting the button is a complete fake – it will not close the doors any faster.
Experts reveal that there numerous buttons in the world that do not live up to their name, but are present to make us feel in control.
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/...7604868898.jpg
Most people don't have the patience to wait for the elevator doors to shut, so they push the 'close' button to speed up the process. However, this feature has been obsolete since the 1990s, suggesting the button is a complete fake – it will not close the doors any faster
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The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, mandating that elevators stay open long enough for someone with a physical disability, such as on crutches or in a wheelchair, to make it inside, Karen W. Penafiel, executive director of National Elevator Industry Inc., told Christopher Mele with The New York Times in an interview.
Although these buttons are useless to the average person, they do perform their proper function for firefighters and maintenance workers – but only with a code or designated keys.
Penafiel explains since an elevator's lifespan is around 25 years, it is safe to say that a majority, if any, do not have a functioning 'close' button – but the 'open' button works when it is pushed.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT BUTTONS
Elevator 'close' buttons went obsolete in the 1990s, which means the ones you see are fake.
New York City figures state that out of the 3,250 crosswalk buttons, 2,500 of them were replaced with non-functioning mechanisms.
And a majority of the thermostats installed in offices that are easily accessible are decoys.
Expert say that these buttons or fake thermostats are in place to promote the illusion on being in control.
Having a lack of control has been found to spark depression among many individuals.
And those people who know the little white lie will still continue to push these decoy buttons because the doors eventually close and that is the desired reward, he said.
However, elevators aren't the only deceitful devices - crosswalk signals in New York City are also on the list.
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/...7604086169.jpg
When pushed, these decoy buttons, including most crosswalk buttons in New York City, give people a sense of being in control. It also diminishes stress and promotes well-being
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As bizarre as it seems to place fake buttons in an elevator or other devices, they are there for good reasons.
'Perceived control is very important,' Ellen J. Langer, a psychology professor at Harvard University who has studied the illusion of control, told Mele in an email.
'It diminishes stress and promotes well-being.'
Another expert, John Kounios, a psychology professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said that these buttons are there to add an illusion of control – if they weren't, people would feel a lack of control which is linked to depression.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz4OOnihakI
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I've used tons of elevators that don't close and as soon as you press the button it does. The same with crosswalks. It won't let you cross even on a green light unless you press the button. Though, those may operate differently in NYC though since they always have people walking. 
I then frantically started smashing the button, 5 to 6 times, maybe more and it would not close. Eventually the door started to close as she walked half way into the elevator and it opened up again.
