THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND MIRRORS IN LIFTS |
| Credit: RVCJ Media |
HOW THE IDEA CAME UP?
• During the early industrial age, many of the new buildings were being built and most had lifted. As buildings got taller and taller, more people began to use lifts but as they were quite slow, people were constantly complaining.
• Lift companies went off to design lifts that were faster and safer, but at the time it was very expensive to do so.
• Then an engineer proposed that they work on a different problem statement. He proposed that the problem was people think lifts move too slow.
• This lead to lots of customer research. They found that a lot of people thought the elevators were a lot slower than they actually were.
• They also discovered that people had an exaggerated sense of time because they had nothing to do but stare at the wall and think about the safety of the elevator being suspended in the air, and preoccupied with the fear of falling.
• This lead to the idea of mirrors in lifts, so people would think about something else besides danger, fear of falling, and slowness. Instead, they could see if their hair looked fine if their tie was straight, etc.
• By installing mirrors in the lifts, people became distracted and were no longer preoccupied with the fear of falling. On a follow-up survey conducted, customers commented how much faster the new lifts were even though the speed was exactly the same.
HOW MIRRORS BENIFIT?
• PERCEPTION OF SPEED: Due to the installation of mirrors inside lifts, people spend time gazing at themselves, making sure they are looking fine and they do not even realize what the speed of the lift is. However, the lift design itself had not changed at all, it's just people's perception of the speed.
• OPTICAL ILLUSION: Mirrors actually help to give the optical illusion of the lift being larger in size, than it actually is, which helps some people who are claustrophobic to stay relaxed and carry on their journey within the box.
• SAFETY: Mirrors in lifts helps us to see what everyone is doing. If they are planning to assault or rob us, we will at least have forewarning and a short amount of time to prepare ourselves and take necessary action.
• HELPING WHEELCHAIR USERS: As a lift might not be big enough for wheelchairs to turn around, the wheelchair-bound might have to reverse their wheelchair out of the lift and might sometimes hurt themselves. With mirrors within the lift to show them where they're going, they'll have an easier time getting out of it.
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