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Benevolent deception: "The placebo button effect" » English to Swahili » Entry by James Lue


Source text in English

Translation by James Lue (#24862)

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.
Ndani ya miaka mingi, bila kujisumbua sana, mamlaka za New York yalizima vitufe-dhibiti vingi ambavyo wakati fulani viliendesha taa za vivuko vya waenda kwa miguu jijini. Walishaamua kuwa vidhibiti muda vinavyoendeshwa kwa kompyuta, karibu kila wakati vilifanya kazi vizuri zaidi. Hadi 2004, vitufe chini ya 750 kati ya 3,250 vilibakia vikifanya kazi. Serikali ya jiji, hata hivyo, haikuviondoa vitufe vilivyokuwa vimeshazimwa – vikivutia vidole visivyo na idadi kuvibonyeza bila faida yoyote.

Mwanzoni, vitufe vilibakia kwa sababu ya gharama ya kuviondoa. Lakini ikatokea kwamba hata vitufe visivyofanya kazi vina faida fulani. Waenda kwa miguu wanaobonyeza kitufe wana uwezekano mdogo wa kuvuka kabla ya mtu wa kijani kutokea, anasema Tal Oron-Gilad wa Chuo Kikuu cha Ben-Gurion cha Negev, kule Israeli. Akiwa ameshachunguza tabia kwenye vivuko, anasema kuwa watu wana utayari wa kutii mfumo unaoelekea kutilia maanani kile wanachofanya.

Vitufe visivyofanya kazi vinazalisha matokeo kipozauongo ya aina hii kwa sababu watu hupenda wazo la udhibiti juu ya mifumo wanayoitumia, anasema Eytan Adar, mtaalamu kuhusu kuathiriana kati ya wanadamu na kompyuta kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dkt Adar anasema kwamba wanafunzi wake kwa kawaida hubuni maunzilaini yenye kitufe cha “hifadhi” cha kubofya ambacho hakina kazi nyingine zaidi ya kuwapa uhakika wale watumiaji ambao hawajui kuwa kila ugusaji wao wa vitufe hata hivyo unahifadhiwa kiotomati. Fikiria juu ya hilo, anasema, kama mguso wa ukarimu mdanganyifu kukabili ubaridi wa asili wa ulimwengu wa mashine.

Huo ni mtazamo mmoja. Lakini, angalau kwenye vivuko vya barabara, vitufe vipozauongo vinaweza pia kuwa na upande mbaya. Ralf Risser, mkuu wa FACTUM, taasisi ya Kiviena inayoshughulika na masuala ya kisaikolojia katika mifumo ya barabarani, anadhania kuwa waenda kwa miguu kutambua kuhusu uwepo wake, na chuki inayozalishwa dhidi ya ule udanyanyifu, sasa vinazidi manufaa.


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