OCT 28 — Next year, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) will replace its 11,500 mechanical pedestrian push buttons with touchless microwave sensors.

These sensors work by detecting a hand wave which then sends a signal to the traffic light system that a pedestrian is waiting to cross, thereby activating the green man signal for crossing.

It all sounds very high-tech and efficient but I’m going to bet one Singapore Bee Hoon there’ll be a small pushback. This is due to that tricky psychological phenomenon known as action bias.

Let me explain.

The ‘just do something lah’ mentality

How many times have our politicians initiated pointless projects which, again, a) took away resources from other priorities and b) only encouraged nepotism and cronyism? And all because the MP in question wanted to project the image of "doing something”.

How many times have you witnessed a manager issue an order which a) was poorly thought out and b) involved countless man-hours and c) took away resources from other on-going assignments?

How many times have you personally wished you hadn’t gone to that mall to buy that thing you didn’t need, which you did only because you were bored or just "had to buy something”?

Behold, the action bias i.e. that irrational human tendency to prefer action even if the costs are ultimately higher than inaction, and even if maintaining the status quo (or plain waiting and being patient) would bring more benefits (see note 1).

It’s like pushing the "Close Door” button in the lift. Seriously, do those three seconds saved really matter?

Based on the ferocity with which people press the button, I’m guessing every milli-second counts.

Then again, these same folks will spend hours checking trivial WhatsApp notifications, so I can’t tell.

Understanding the action bias, however, suggests that it’s not the seconds saved but the need to do something ─ anything! ─ instead of waiting.

Which brings us to the pedestrian crossing.

So we have many folks waiting at the side of the road for the happy green man in the light to replace the stern-looking red man.

There’s always a button there to press, presumably to speed up the change to green so we can cross the road.

The question is: Does pressing the button (or not) make a substantial difference to waiting time? Even if it did, why do people usually press the button multiple times?

Isn’t it the case that pedestrian green-light buttons serve the purpose of making life less stressful by playing to the manner in which our brains are structured?

These devices are there to soothe our psychological distaste for doing nothing, even if the end result of doing something is no different from, well, the opposite.

In fact, in 2004, The New York Times reported that more than 75 per cent of the city’s crosswalk buttons had no effect on traffic signals. And in 2013, UK transportation offices admitted up to 40 per cent of their pedestrian crossing signals functioned automatically, even if the button was not pressed.

The point is that many of these devices are simply dud boxes with no electrical wiring whatsoever i.e. they’re there to give folks something to stab at with their fingers and elbows while they wait.

Behold, the action bias.

Thus next year when Singapore removes the buttons and installs sensors, the very likely outcome is you are going to get many people waving frantically at the sensor!

Given the lack of a "soothing” tactile stimulation (which one gets by banging a button) you can almost guarantee that frustrations will rise just a bit.

Cultivating a ‘patience bias’?

Lifts and road-crossings are minor things. But action bias can be damaging, not least when politicians play havoc and create more risks simply because doing nothing (or doing less) doesn’t look good.

Likewise we, as leaders or parents, may need to reflect on how often we insist on doing "something” for its own sake.

If not we may end up creating activity for our children or teams to look busy instead of allowing people to deal with their already heavy schedule or workloads. A bit (more) waiting, patience, silence and "inactivity” wouldn’t hurt, right?

Finally, for us over-enthusiastic Malaysian foodies out there, you already know the problem of makan bias (which is really the action bias in gastronomic form i.e. eat something rather than do nothing).

We all know the problems this creates (obesity, diabetes, etc.) and, in the context of this essay, the solution is also obvious: Eat less.

Note 1: For more on this, check out Dobelli, R. (2013). The Art of Thinking Clearly: The Secrets of Perfect Decision-Making. Hachette UK, especially chapter 43.