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Benevolent deception: "The placebo button effect" » English to Chinese

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Source text in English

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.

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 9 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (9 total) Expand all entries

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Language variants:
Entry #25129 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Simplified
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
7215 x44 x24 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 10 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (4 total agrees)
+1
没有惊动公众
Flows well
Best trans​lation of ​this phras​e
Jiabin Chen
没有
Good term selection
Li Sun
更胜一筹
Good term selection
Li Sun
起初,这些按钮因为拆除成本问题而被保留下来
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
可令人意想不到的是
Flows well
excellent ​translatio​n.
Wei Ralph
操控感
Good term selection
Rony Gao
发现,
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
+2
除了让不知道按键具有自动保存功能的用户倍感安心之外,这个按钮其实毫无用处。他表示,可以把它当作一种善意欺骗性点触,以便抵御机器世界本性的冷漠。
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
不太光彩的一面
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
+1
FACTUM 是维也纳一家从事交通系统心理因素研究的机构,其负责人拉尔夫·瑞瑟认为,行人对安慰剂按钮的觉察以及他们在受骗之后产生的忿恨现在已经超过了正面效应。
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
Entry #25034 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
294 x45 x23 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 8 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+2
悄悄地禁用了
Flows well
Yi Qiu
悄悄地
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
控制效果上总是更胜一筹
Good term selection
Rony Gao
的可能性更小
Good term selection
Rony Gao
其功能除了让用户确知自己输入的内容已保存之外别无用处,因为这些输入内容已被自动保存。他还说,不妨将这些按钮看成一个善意的谎言,意在以此减轻机器世界里固有的冷漠。
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
不妨将这些按钮看成一个善意的谎言
Flows well
Rony Gao
行人已意识到这类按钮的存在并对这一谎言产生了反感,从而使这类按钮带来的不利影响超出了它门带来的益处。
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
反感
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
Entry #25121 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
pkchan
pkchan
United States
Voting points1st2nd3rd
285 x43 x22 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
+1
1
不動聲色地
Good term selection
Linda Hsueh
無論用手指去按多少次,結果也是徒勞的
Flows well
Mark Lam
安慰按鈕
Flows well
强于“安慰剂按钮”
Jiong GUO
Entry #25543 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Simplified
xu Xue
xu Xue
China
Voting points1st2nd3rd
253 x45 x23 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 7 "like" tags
停用
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
拆除
Good term selection
Yi Qiu
最初,出于拆除成本的考虑,那些按钮得以保留
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
人们更容易服从一种听从他们意见的系统
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
让那些不知道他们的文件已经自动保存的用户放心
Flows well
Rony Gao
这可以当成一种善意的欺骗,用来对抗机器世界固有的冰冷
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
消极的一面
Flows well
Kwok Wa LAM
Entry #25073 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Mandarin
Voting points1st2nd3rd
163 x41 x22 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 7 "like" tags
这些按钮能够幸存是因为拆除它们需要一定的成本
Flows well
Linda Hsueh
塔尔•奥荣•吉莱德 (Tal Oron-Gilad)
Other
Good to pr​ovide the ​names in i​ts origina​l language​ as easy r​eference
Kwok Wa LAM
伊坦•亚达 (Eytan Adar)
Other
good to pr​ovide the ​original n​ame when i​t first ap​pears
Kwok Wa LAM
而这种按钮的作用只不过是让那些并未注意到其按键行为已被自动保存的用户安心而已
Flows well
preserve t​he full me​aning of t​he origina​l text
Kwok Wa LAM
他说,
Flows well
Rony Gao
可以将其视为一种善意的欺骗,用来对抗机器世界固有的那种冰冷感觉
Flows well
Thomas Chen
反感
Good term selection
Kwok Wa LAM
Entry #25414 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Simplified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
61 x41 x20
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
按压按钮的行人更倾向于在行人通行绿灯亮后才过马路
Flows well
Rony Gao
负面影响
Flows well
其它翻成“阴暗”的都​不准确。
Jiong GUO
Entry #25498 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
201 x20
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
这继续吸引了无数手指的徒劳按压
Flows well
Rony Gao
按钮幸存下来
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
Entry #24796 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
201 x20
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
废弃
Good term selection
Kwok Wa LAM
在设计软件时增加可点击的“保存”按钮
Flows well
Rony Gao
你可以把这想象成应对机器世界的内在冷漠的一种善意欺骗。
Flows well
Jiabin Chen
Entry #25079 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Simplified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
1001 x1
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags