Human compulsion is a curious thing

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed a habit people have.  Many other people notice this habit and comment on it, so it's not a very original observation and I doubt much insight will be gleaned from it, but I wanted to discuss it anyway.


While standing at an intersection, waiting to cross a road, with several other people waiting to cross as well, a person approached the corner and walked up to the button and pressed it.  Does the person, for ease of reference we'll call him Bob, not notice the half dozen plus people all standing at the intersection waiting for the lights to change?  Did Bob think we were all waiting for his timely appearance to work the mysterious button or did he think that, out of all the people waiting at the corner, he was the only person to think of pressing the button?  Another person approaches the corner and does the same thing before the lights change and we all cross.  Why?  There is a group of people already waiting to cross, surely one of them has already pushed it.  Is it because if you push it and THEN the lights change you think you have accomplished something?  It an interesting compulsion.  Another similar one happens when people are waiting for the lights to change and Bob, after pressing the button once and waiting for a few minutes, steps forwards and presses it several more time.  Surely he can't believe that pressing it in rapid succession is going to make the sequence of light changing happen any quicker?  This also happens with people waiting for an elevator.  They will wait and then step forward and pound the button several times, as if that will make the elevator car move quicker up or down the shaft to reach where they are waiting.

I've done it myself, in all three of the situations above.  It's almost like some kind of compulsion, pushing me to press the button, see if I can make the lights change, or the elevator arrive faster but why?

Why do we feel compelled to press that button when clearly everyone else waiting has already done so, or hammer the elevator button in the vain hope that it will make the car move faster, or to reach out and touch that wall/bench/etc that has the "Wet Paint" sign just to see if it is actually wet?

Next time you're out at a street corner, count how many people approach and press that button