Most people are well aware of the placebo effect with regard to medicine. The idea is simply to believe that only cure for your symptoms is often sufficient to perform this treatment takes effect. For example, a patient who thinks he takes Advil for a headache while watching his headaches go away, even if it takes a sugar pill designed to look like a painkiller. The effect is strong enough to control groups in research studies on the effectiveness of treatment will be given a dummy treatment to control the effect.
But the placebo effect is not limited to medicine. In our daily lives we are constantly faced with situations in which the products or services do not work as promised. However, far from complaining to trample on someone, instead of leaving us convinced that the push button did exactly what he said he would. If a button says it will close the doors of the elevator, but does not seem to have the desired effect, we can still find a way to convince us that he was doing what he had said.
"Do not assume that self-deception is always intentional or deliberate," says David McRaney, author of You're not so smart, a book on self-deception. "We often engage in something called confabulation, which is essentially a story that we can believe in to explain the behavior that we do not understand ... We are very good at pattern recognition, and if we have the story correct What are the causes of the trend of course, we learn to associate cause and effect. "
In other words, if the button says it will close the doors of the elevator and the elevator doors do not close until they were pressuring him for 20 seconds, we have always managed to convince us that our actions brought by the result. It's like the man who took sugar pills labeled "Advil" - when the headache goes away by itself after a couple of hours, is convinced that the pill makes the case.
Examples of how this phenomenon affects us daily.
The elevator "close door" button
Let's start with the most obvious example:. Upset that "closing doors" in the elevator is a well established fact that in most elevators is what is essentially a dummy button.
But it's not like lift manufacturers to install an extra button just to give an illusion of control. In fact, McRaney said button can be activated, but only for some people.
'Close buttons do not close the elevator doors, in most elevators built in the United States by the Americans with Disabilities Act, "McRaney said." The button is there for workers and emergency personnel to use, and works only with the key. "
Sure, you could put a sign on the panel studied the situation and lift the drivers, but the notes McRaney, it is difficult to justify the time and money it would take. And then, we would probably weigh, however, convinced that it works this time.
"HD" TV
We are not suggesting that HDTVs are not really high definition, although the techniques of terminology can make it difficult to determine how a good image quality is. But for some people, just to see the "HD" label on TV is enough to convince them that the image is better, even if you have a bad connection or are not watching a HD channel. In short it is a high definition image is enough to convince them that the situation is better, and not until the grandchildren come and show us how to find HD channels were to realize their own dreams.
This is not just anecdotal, but. Dutch researchers did a study in 2009, where 60 people were shown a video clip on the exact same TV. However, half of them had been told that the clip will be high definition, and even the researchers connected a cable TV in more behind the thick end of Charade. The control group was told to expect a normal DVD picture.
They were then asked to describe the image quality. You can imagine that the group thought it was more pleasing to the eye of the image.
Of course, at that HD TVs are ubiquitous enough that most people when they see a high-definition image or not. And as one of the researchers told the magazine New Scientist, the difference between standard definition and high definition is less in Europe than in the U.S., so it would not be as effective here.
Yet it is a good reminder that the assurance that something is "high quality" not only make it more likely that you will buy the product - it can also subtly affect your enjoyment.
Walk Signal Controls
Many towns and cities have buttons that allow pedestrian crossings to speed the arrival of a signal. And in many places, do exactly what they promise to do.
But not everywhere.
The city of New York admitted several years ago that most of the "push-button, wait for the road" buttons are not assets that have long been replaced by automated systems that keep the lights on a timer set. This makes the placebo buttons as buttons to close the door on an elevator.
"As with the elevators, it would be expensive to replace or remove all non-functioning buttons, or to inform the public through a sort of media campaign," said McRaney. "There is no harm in letting people evident in your city powerless to keep buttons of passage for interference."
And many people will continue to grow even more - perhaps a relic of an era reminiscent of the buttons work, or maybe because sometimes they get lucky and the light will change immediately after they grow.
Again, in many municipalities, these buttons actually work. A 2008 study by Canada.com there was no placebo as in Victoria, Canada, although city officials admitted that the various buttons in efficiency.
Butt-Toning Shoes
If the elevator button and walk signal, there is no intentional fraud involved - just changed the technology, and nobody has bothered to inform the people who were still off by pressing in vain. But sometimes it's a classic case of a company makes claims that can not be backed up.
Case in point: the Reebok had just ordered the Federal Trade Commission to pay $ 25 million in bonuses, saying that the "tonic" to strengthen and tone shoes, thighs and butts of people who have used them. The FTC has also banned the company to make such claims in advertising future.
The decision is a blow of potential across the bow of the other companies that market similar shoes in the soles rounded supposed to do your thighs and buttocks do more work while walking. Despite the huge demands from companies like Reebok and Skechers, some experts are skeptical, USA Today last year quoted a professor of medicine, who called the allegations "nonsense" and suggested that their only effect would destabilize the Achilles tendon.
In spite of these skeptics, many customers are very satisfied with their purchase. In his opinion, the decision to respond to the FTC, Reebok spokesman insisted that the company has received "overwhelming feedback from thousands of enthusiastic customers EasyTone". And even though probably a little 'too much exaggeration of companies, we do not doubt that many customers actually come away feeling like they had improved their butt plugs. Maybe the shoes really do the trick. Or maybe they thought they did.
Office Thermostats
Sorry to break it, but large companies are not just going to let an employee warms cold crank every time he wants. But if you just locked the thermostat or put beyond the control workers constantly complain about.
The solution: a thermostat that does not do anything other than to appease the masses cool.
"In many offices on the buttons on the wall, doing nothing," said McRaney. "Some employers and owners feel like they can not trust people not to play with the temperature during the day, which costs them money, so they install dummy thermostats to give people an illusion of control. They work very well, as most people go wrong in thinking that they feel the change. "
When pressed, most of technicians responsible for installing support equipment that are simply a facade. A 2003 survey by the Wall Street Journal quoted an HVAC technician, who estimated that 90% of office thermostats are completely wrong (although other technical gave lower estimates).
We have not seen any studies that confirm that people feel warmer after playing with these accessories. But let's be honest: If you work, the offices did not bother to install.
But the placebo effect is not limited to medicine. In our daily lives we are constantly faced with situations in which the products or services do not work as promised. However, far from complaining to trample on someone, instead of leaving us convinced that the push button did exactly what he said he would. If a button says it will close the doors of the elevator, but does not seem to have the desired effect, we can still find a way to convince us that he was doing what he had said.
"Do not assume that self-deception is always intentional or deliberate," says David McRaney, author of You're not so smart, a book on self-deception. "We often engage in something called confabulation, which is essentially a story that we can believe in to explain the behavior that we do not understand ... We are very good at pattern recognition, and if we have the story correct What are the causes of the trend of course, we learn to associate cause and effect. "
In other words, if the button says it will close the doors of the elevator and the elevator doors do not close until they were pressuring him for 20 seconds, we have always managed to convince us that our actions brought by the result. It's like the man who took sugar pills labeled "Advil" - when the headache goes away by itself after a couple of hours, is convinced that the pill makes the case.
Examples of how this phenomenon affects us daily.
The elevator "close door" button
Let's start with the most obvious example:. Upset that "closing doors" in the elevator is a well established fact that in most elevators is what is essentially a dummy button.
But it's not like lift manufacturers to install an extra button just to give an illusion of control. In fact, McRaney said button can be activated, but only for some people.
'Close buttons do not close the elevator doors, in most elevators built in the United States by the Americans with Disabilities Act, "McRaney said." The button is there for workers and emergency personnel to use, and works only with the key. "
Sure, you could put a sign on the panel studied the situation and lift the drivers, but the notes McRaney, it is difficult to justify the time and money it would take. And then, we would probably weigh, however, convinced that it works this time.
"HD" TV
We are not suggesting that HDTVs are not really high definition, although the techniques of terminology can make it difficult to determine how a good image quality is. But for some people, just to see the "HD" label on TV is enough to convince them that the image is better, even if you have a bad connection or are not watching a HD channel. In short it is a high definition image is enough to convince them that the situation is better, and not until the grandchildren come and show us how to find HD channels were to realize their own dreams.
This is not just anecdotal, but. Dutch researchers did a study in 2009, where 60 people were shown a video clip on the exact same TV. However, half of them had been told that the clip will be high definition, and even the researchers connected a cable TV in more behind the thick end of Charade. The control group was told to expect a normal DVD picture.
They were then asked to describe the image quality. You can imagine that the group thought it was more pleasing to the eye of the image.
Of course, at that HD TVs are ubiquitous enough that most people when they see a high-definition image or not. And as one of the researchers told the magazine New Scientist, the difference between standard definition and high definition is less in Europe than in the U.S., so it would not be as effective here.
Yet it is a good reminder that the assurance that something is "high quality" not only make it more likely that you will buy the product - it can also subtly affect your enjoyment.
Walk Signal Controls
Many towns and cities have buttons that allow pedestrian crossings to speed the arrival of a signal. And in many places, do exactly what they promise to do.
But not everywhere.
The city of New York admitted several years ago that most of the "push-button, wait for the road" buttons are not assets that have long been replaced by automated systems that keep the lights on a timer set. This makes the placebo buttons as buttons to close the door on an elevator.
"As with the elevators, it would be expensive to replace or remove all non-functioning buttons, or to inform the public through a sort of media campaign," said McRaney. "There is no harm in letting people evident in your city powerless to keep buttons of passage for interference."
And many people will continue to grow even more - perhaps a relic of an era reminiscent of the buttons work, or maybe because sometimes they get lucky and the light will change immediately after they grow.
Again, in many municipalities, these buttons actually work. A 2008 study by Canada.com there was no placebo as in Victoria, Canada, although city officials admitted that the various buttons in efficiency.
Butt-Toning Shoes
If the elevator button and walk signal, there is no intentional fraud involved - just changed the technology, and nobody has bothered to inform the people who were still off by pressing in vain. But sometimes it's a classic case of a company makes claims that can not be backed up.
Case in point: the Reebok had just ordered the Federal Trade Commission to pay $ 25 million in bonuses, saying that the "tonic" to strengthen and tone shoes, thighs and butts of people who have used them. The FTC has also banned the company to make such claims in advertising future.
The decision is a blow of potential across the bow of the other companies that market similar shoes in the soles rounded supposed to do your thighs and buttocks do more work while walking. Despite the huge demands from companies like Reebok and Skechers, some experts are skeptical, USA Today last year quoted a professor of medicine, who called the allegations "nonsense" and suggested that their only effect would destabilize the Achilles tendon.
In spite of these skeptics, many customers are very satisfied with their purchase. In his opinion, the decision to respond to the FTC, Reebok spokesman insisted that the company has received "overwhelming feedback from thousands of enthusiastic customers EasyTone". And even though probably a little 'too much exaggeration of companies, we do not doubt that many customers actually come away feeling like they had improved their butt plugs. Maybe the shoes really do the trick. Or maybe they thought they did.
Office Thermostats
Sorry to break it, but large companies are not just going to let an employee warms cold crank every time he wants. But if you just locked the thermostat or put beyond the control workers constantly complain about.
The solution: a thermostat that does not do anything other than to appease the masses cool.
"In many offices on the buttons on the wall, doing nothing," said McRaney. "Some employers and owners feel like they can not trust people not to play with the temperature during the day, which costs them money, so they install dummy thermostats to give people an illusion of control. They work very well, as most people go wrong in thinking that they feel the change. "
When pressed, most of technicians responsible for installing support equipment that are simply a facade. A 2003 survey by the Wall Street Journal quoted an HVAC technician, who estimated that 90% of office thermostats are completely wrong (although other technical gave lower estimates).
We have not seen any studies that confirm that people feel warmer after playing with these accessories. But let's be honest: If you work, the offices did not bother to install.