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Benevolent deception: "The placebo button effect" » English to Swahili » Entry #25591


Source text in English

Translation #25591

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.
Kwa kipindi cha miaka mingi, bila kuchanganyikiwa kubwa juu yake, mamlaka ya New York yamezimwa vifungo vingi vya kudhibiti ambavyo vilikuwa vinaendesha taa za kuvuka kwa jiji la jiji. Wakati wa kompyuta, waliamua, karibu daima walifanya kazi vizuri. By 2004, chini ya 750 ya 3,250 vifungo hivyo waliendelea kazi. Serikali ya jiji haifai, hata hivyo, kuchukua vifungo vya walemavu mbali-kuhesabiwa vidole vingi isitoshe.

Awali, vifungo viliokolewa kwa sababu ya gharama za kuondosha. Lakini ikawa kwamba vifungo visivyo na kazi hutumikia kusudi. Wahamiaji wanaofunga kifungo hawana uwezekano mkubwa wa kuvuka mbele ya mtu wa kijani, anasema Tal Oron-Gilad wa Chuo Kikuu cha Ben-Gurion ya Negev, nchini Israeli. Baada ya kujifunza tabia wakati wa kuvuka, anasema kuwa watu wengi hutii kwa urahisi mfumo ambao unapaswa kuzingatia pembejeo zao.

Vifungo visivyofanya kazi huzalisha madhara ya placebo ya aina hii kwa sababu watu kama hisia ya udhibiti wa mifumo wanayoyotumia, anasema Eytan Adar, mtaalam wa mwingiliano wa kompyuta katika Chuo Kikuu cha Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dk Adar anasema kwamba wanafunzi wake wanaunda programu ya kawaida kwa kifungo clickable cha "kuokoa" ambacho haina jukumu kingine kuliko kuwahakikishia watumiaji hao ambao hawajui kuwa vituo vyao muhimu huhifadhiwa moja kwa moja. Fikiria juu yake, anasema, kama kugusa kwa udanganyifu mzuri ili kukabiliana na baridi ya asili ya ulimwengu wa mashine.

Hiyo ni mtazamo mmoja. Lakini, wakati wa kuvuka barabara angalau, vifungo vya placebo pia vinaweza kuwa na rangi nyeusi. Ralf Risser, mkuu wa FACTUM, taasisi ya Viennese ambayo inasoma mambo ya kisaikolojia katika mifumo ya trafiki, inaona kuwa wahamiaji wa ufahamu wa kuwepo kwao, na chuki kwa sababu ya udanganyifu, sasa inazidi faida.


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