被骗好多年：电梯"关门"按键根本没用！
The 'close door' button on your elevator is a scam!
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.
大多数人没有等待电梯自动关闭的耐心（虽然这个过程只有几秒钟）,所以他们按"关门"键来加快关门速度.
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.
然而,许多人称,自20世纪90年代起,电梯关门按键就已被淘汰,这说明目前的关门键完全是摆设,它们根本不会加快关门速度.
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.
专家称虽然世界上有许多名不副实的按键,但它们的存在让我们有一种掌控感.
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.
于1990年通过的《美国残疾人法案》要求电梯开门时间保持足够长,从而照顾身体残疾者,例如拄拐人士或坐轮椅者,方便他们进入电梯.国家电梯产业股份有限公司的执行总裁凯伦•Ｗ•佩尼亚菲耶尔在接受《纽约时报》的克里斯托弗•米尔采访时这样说道：
"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."
"尽管这些按键对普通人而言没有作用,但对于使用密码或特定钥匙的消防员或维修人员来说,这些按键能够很好地发挥其作用."
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.
佩尼亚菲耶尔解释称,由于一部电梯的寿命在25年左右,我们大可以认为,就算大多数电梯的"关门"键都是不起作用的,但"开门"按键是有效的.
As bizarre as it seems to place fake buttons in an elevator or other devices, they are there for good reasons.
虽然在电梯或其他设备中安置一个假按键的行为似乎很奇怪,但这些假按键有着一定的存在原因.
'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.
"具有自认为的控制感是很重要的,"曾研究控制错觉的哈佛大学心理学教授艾伦•J•朗格在给米尔的一封邮件中写道：
'It diminishes stress and promotes well-being.'
"这种感觉能够减少人们的压力并且增加他们的幸福感."
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.
另一位来自费城德雷塞尔大学的心理学教授约翰•库尼奥斯说,这些按键的存在是为了让人们产生一种控制错觉.如果没有这些按键,人们会感到缺乏控制力,从而引发抑郁.
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.
