The BBC web site carries an article on “placebo
buttons” which provide the illusion that those who press them control the
operation of doors, traffic lights, thermostats, etc. (“Press Me! The Buttons
That Lie to You”). Could planting them seem a bit creepy and manipulative? Perhaps
not if, pressing such useless buttons, “people feel happier with the world around
them, more in control of events and comforted by the apparent efficacy of their
actions.” Some psychologists, however, have pointed to a
darker side. The article cites an experiment involving financial traders: some
exaggerated how much pressing a button affected the value of financial assets in
a game, and they were the ones who tended to take uncalculated risks in real
life. This “illusion of control” is heightened under conditions of cut-throat
competition, and may operate on a broader scale – a tendency which could perhaps help explain the risky calculations that led to the
financial crisis. And how about, one is tempted to ask, invading Iraq and exporting
democracy to a historically troubled region? Or launching the Euro and facilitating subprime credit lines to governments? It seems a degree of fatalism may
not always be a bad thing – but won’t come easily to the “weirdest people in
the world”...
