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.

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.

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.

Most people don't have the patience to wait for the elevator doors to shut, so they push the 'close' button to speed up the process. However, this feature has been obsolete since the 1990s, suggesting the button is a complete fake – it will not close the doors any faster

THE TRUTH ABOUT BUTTONS Elevator 'close' buttons went obsolete in the 1990s, which means the ones you see are fake. New York City figures state that out of the 3,250 crosswalk buttons, 2,500 of them were replaced with non-functioning mechanisms. And a majority of the thermostats installed in offices that are easily accessible are decoys. Expert say that these buttons or fake thermostats are in place to promote the illusion on being in control. Having a lack of control has been found to spark depression among many individuals. Advertisement

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.

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.

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.

As bizarre as it seems to place fake buttons in an elevator or other devices, they are there for good reasons.

'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.

'It diminishes stress and promotes well-being.'

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.

When pushed, these decoy buttons, including most crosswalk buttons in New York City, give people a sense of being in control. It also diminishes stress and promotes well-being

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.

However, elevators aren't the only deceitful devices - crosswalk signals in New York City are also on the list.

The New York Times revealed in 2004 that the Big Apple pulled the plug on a majority of its pedestrian buttons long ago, as a result of computer-controlled traffic signals.

City figures state that out of the 3,250 crosswalk buttons, 2,500 of them were replaced with mechanical placebos, or non-functioning mechanisms .

The reason the buttons are still in place is because it costs about $1 million to remove them.

Some office thermostats that can be easily accessed are also fake, but experts say it makes individuals feel better to know they have the ability to control the temperature in the office

But New York City isn't alone in this let down, as ABC conducted a survey in 2010 that found only one working crosswalk button in Austin Texas, Gainesville, Florida and Syracuse, New York.

Depending on where you work, you may not want to trust the thermostat that everyone has access to.

In 2003, the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News found that many offices install 'dummy thermostats' – 51 out of 71 people in the survey confirmed their office in fact has one.

One respondent David Trimble of Fort Collins, Colorado, wrote The News that individuals 'felt better' that they have the ability to control the temperature in the office following the installation of a decoy thermostat.