This month it has emerged that most of the buttons on the side of pedestrian crossings in capital city CBDs do not actually work during the day.

Research by The Guardian showed that in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, during daylight hours, most CBD pedestrian crossings work on timers to increase traffic flow.

So the buttons are pointless — at least in peak hours.

But people still like to press buttons — and Dr Ellen Langer, a psychology professor at Harvard University, said it was still worth doing.

"It's good for you, makes you feel in control, it also may even have health benefits," she said.

Dr Langer has been studying the illusion of control since the 1970s.

"Doing something feels better than doing nothing," she said.

Pressing buttons, even if they don't do anything, could have health benefits says Dr Ellen Langer. ( Unsplash: Octavian Rosca )

"Believing that you have control over your world reduces stress and leads you to a much happier place.

"[And] it's probably better to press the button than to start sending texts [while you wait].

"When you're pressing the button, you're in the present situation."

Does pushing the 'close doors' button help?

The existence of these "placebo buttons" has become increasingly prevalent, and in major cities like New York and London, there are thousands of buttons beside intersections which do nothing at all.

And these are not the only placebo buttons you may have come across.

In the United States, roughly four out of five "close doors" buttons on the control panels of elevators are purely for show.

The elevators are programmed to open and close their doors by a timer, and no matter how many times you hit the button, the doors will not close any faster.

Pressing elevator buttons multiple times or holding the button down will not make the doors close any faster. ( Reuters: Kai Pfaffenbach )

This was reported on extensively in 2014 by the podcast RadioLab, and has become a widely shared meme about the amount of control you have over your existence.

It does not, however, apply to Australians.

"I would suggest that if a door close button doesn't work, it's broken," said John Tibbitts, the President of the Lift Engineering Society of Australia.

"Lifts are always manufactured on big production lines, they're all manufactured with 'door closed', 'door opened' buttons, all wired in.

"If you want to disconnect one, it's going to cost you money."

Pressing buttons, even if they don't work, gives people the illusion of control over their lives. ( ABC News )

Lifts in Australia are often programmed to have a minimum amount of "dwell time" while they are open, but after that period of two or three seconds has passed, the "close doors" button will close the doors.

However, pressing the button multiple times or holding the button down will not close the doors any faster.

"The first time you press it, it latches in, and it's latched in until something else happens," said Mr Tibbitts.

But that does not stop people pressing "close doors" or pedestrian crossing buttons more than once.