Jane,+Amy,+Kyley

Are individuals in one culture more likely than another to be impatient? Are individuals in one culture more likely to press the "close" button when they get on the elevator?

**Hypothesis**
We hypothesize that Koreans are living faster paced lives than Americans. We decided to compare the pace of life between the two cultures by measuring the different levels of impatience in daily lives. We base this hypothesis on the idea that pressing the close button in an elevator is one of the many indications of impatience. Just waiting for the door to close without pressing the button will take the door approximately five to seven seconds to close. On the other hand, pressing the close button will shorten the waiting time by closing the door within two to three seconds. We believe that people who are willing to press the close button just to close the door about two or three seconds earlier are more impatient than people who are willing to wait until the door closes.

**Objective**
Our main objective is to find out whether one society is more impatient compared to the other. Our other objective is to find out whether the pace of life correlates to other aspects of lives, such as health issues.

**Method**

 * 1) Place a camera in the corner of an elevator(where it cannot be seen easily) from 8:00-9:00a.m. and 7:00-8:00p.m. Count the number of people that press the button when they get on the elevator. * we would have to get permission from the company and tell the people afterward that they were being recorded *
 * 2) Spend time in an elevator evaluating and recording the actions that the people take - pressing the close button. We can purposely cause delays for the door to close, and note their response.

3. Conduct a survey.

Elevator Survey Draft: Feel free to add questions

** Elevator Survey **


 * Please take a moment to rate yourself on your elevator behavior. ||

Evaluation Scale: (4) Every Time (3) Frequently (2) Sometimes (1) Almost Never


 * 1) ** 1. ** ** Do you ever press the ‘close’ button in the elevator? ** Yes No

** If yes, how often? ** 4 3 2 1

Evaluation Scale: (5) Rapidly (4) Few (3) Twice (2) Once (1) None


 * 1) **2.** ** How many //times// do you press the ‘close’ button? ** 5 4 3 2 1

Compare and analyze the collected data. Relate it to the conclusion drawn from the research on health issues.

We can also observe a group of people waiting to get on the elevator and see how they will behave, and how far they will go just so that they wont be late for the event/conference they will be attending.

We can also observe how many time the person pressing the "close door" button presses it until it closes, and ask them if they realize that them pressing the button will actually not make a differences.

**Potential Errors**
The time of the day when we are conducting the experiment might be the hours during which people are more impatient. On top of that, rush hours may be different between two cultures. Also, the people who get on the elevator might have personal issues or crisis on that specific day so that they are being more impatient than usual.

__**Lit Review**__
Jane []

The article introduces several different ways to measure impatience, such as "average walking speed in downtown locations, the speed with which postal clerks completed a simple request (work speed)..." It also lists several different environmental aspects that might affect the pace of life in many different countries: climates, economy, etc. Although our way of measuring impatience maybe interesting, we might have to consider some of the other methods in this article.

[] This article gives us a basic idea on how to formulate our hypothesis. The research revealed that "Japan and Western European countries scored fastest overall." As I was processing through the article I found that South Korea ranked in 15th, placing itself with the faster paced countries. My hypothesis is that South Koreans are living faster paced lives compared to Americans.

[] This article suggests the implications of this research. For instance, the "people in fast-moving cities are less likely to help others and have higher rates of coronary heart disease." This gives us further insight into some of the other aspects of the two cultures. As quoted in the article, measuring the pace of life "'…provides a significant insight into the physical and social health of a city."

Lit Review (Kyley) The American Values: Far From Patience “Impatience is seen as the American disease that needs to be cured,” according to an NPR article written by Linton Weeks. For our study, we are going to evaluate differences of impatience in different cultures. The overall consensus of the five pieces of literature I have read, is that Americans are extremely impatient, which subsequently can lead to multiple other problems. A factor of our everyday lifestyles is time compression. “The traffic light that takes thirty seconds to change or the computer that takes a minute to boot up or the checkout line where it takes five minutes to buy a week’s groceries all have come to seem interminable delays” (Future View) This //time compression// creates impatience and anxiety; that we have to always be doing something. The //payoff// to an action is immediate, there is no more waiting for a response or reaction. Due to this phenomena, it is very difficult to focus or engage in a activity where the payoff would be years away, compared to instantaneous gratification. We want everything we buy or want, as fast as possible: high-speed internet, high-performance cars, and instant messaging. Impatience is used interchangeably with the term //instant gratification.// “The philosophy of instant gratification is pervasive in American society today.” (New York Amsterdam News). Today people believe that they go through life and think that the world owes them something and/or getting immediate access to different things. Psychologist Eric Dlugokinski, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, says, “Getting what you want – and getting it now – definitely is more exciting to people that the topic of character building. In a sense, we’ve done it to ourselves by demanding that life not be difficult and that everything be ‘made to order’.” In other words, as Americans, we value getting what we want when we want it and how we want it, looking after ourselves first. As mentioned above, the literature that I read also links our impatience to health concerns. Since Americans live their lives on the ‘fast track’, we demand that we have a meal that is easy to come by, otherwise known as fast food. According to Jessica Korves, College of Southern Nevada, “to about one-third of America, these fast paced ideals also apply to our diets.” Instead of going out for dinner at a nice restaurant, we would rather drive through one, //without// getting out of our cars, or if we feel lazy to move, we can always have dinner delivered. Due to this impatience and need for instant gratification, “America is one of the richest and most progressive countries in the world, yet we are the most unhealthy and obese.” (Korves, Jessica). “In 2004, a report in the //Journal of Biosocial Science// linked a rise in American impatience with an increase in obesity. Studies found that as Americans spent more of their income, and saved less, they also gained weight.” (NPR Article, Linton Weeks). This information proves that, as Americans, we would much rather have our wants as fast as possible, rather than taking the time to make a healthy alternative, which in the long run saves money and your overall health. Well known author, Valerie Frankel, says “impatience can make people tense, fat, and broke.” Jessica Korves article summarizes the relationship between impatience and the fast food and health risks related to the rising fast food rate. Everyone who reads this article should really look at society and will draw parallels from this article to their own lives. It really relates to everyone’s everyday lifestyle and how that reflects onto American culture. The NPR Article: Impatient Nation: I Can’t Wait For You to Read This, discusses the overall impatience of Americans. The way that this article is formatted, really hits home the ideas/ behaviors behind impatience. It makes fun of our ‘impatient’ ways by using the ideas for the present and not too far in the past. The third article that I read, New York Amsterdam News, talks about gratification, and what people can do to delay it. So instead of immediately receiving gratification, it helps you understand that you do not always need that immediate gratification. The Time article, links health care to impatience and the roots of the problem of impatience, “the root problem isn’t American’s impatience for care, but the fact that many are stuck navigating a system that has done a poor job making sense of time and health.” The last article that I read, discusses time compression and its effects on society. It has a fitting title, Tomorrow? Who Cares? for the subject matter. This gives the idea that Americans live in a shell of the current day, and do not look ahead to the coming days or weeks. The article talks about how impatient we Americans have become, and over the smallest of things, including the thirty seconds it takes for a light to turn green or the time it takes to actually make a homemade dinner.

Lit Review (Amy)

http://consumerist.com/2010/11/most-close-door-buttons-are-just-there-to-make-you-feel-better.html

This article states that the close door button doesn’t really work for people that are in a rush but instead for police officers and for firemen. The close door button only work if an authorized official has a key that can close the door on an elevator for emergency. But in all reality the bottom is just place there to give the person in the elevator a sense of calmness and control. So if someone was in a rush, they claims by pressing this button, it will help the person feel more relaxed and calm also in control.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/595/do-close-door-buttons-on-elevators-ever-actually-work But on the other hand, this article states that the “Close Door Button” does in fact work. For example if someone were to get into the elevator without pressing the “Close Door Button”, the elevator would close within 5 to 7 seconds. But if someone who steps into the same elevator were to press that same button, the “Close Door Button” would work and close the door with in 2 to 3 seconds. But it would seem like it is not working due to two reasons. Those who tend to use that button may sometime overuse it and while at first it may seem to work good, but after a few times of pressing that button, it may seem as if it doesn’t work anymore. And the second reason is that people who tend to use that same button are those who live in a fast pace, so when they are on a rush, they may not see the difference in if they press it or if they don’t press it.

[] The next article I read said that Americans are impatient are viewed as arrogant, insensitive and impulsive. And also they are bead dissection makers because of their “It got to be done now or never” way of thought. Some people would even go to the extremes of avoiding those types of people because they are typically rude and have a bad personality. And to them it is only about “time and Money”. I would say that this article only holds true to a big city were people tend to act like that but everywhere else I would disagree.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131565694/impatient-nation-i-can-t-wait-for-you-to-read-this The last article I read was how Americans go to fat food restaurants, do the self-checkout line at the grocery store and honk at a green light because they are impatient. It stated that some are even impatient with impatient people. It is all because the impatient nature is a sign of success, and if we weren’t impatient, they are not successful, so that is why they feel like they should act impatient.

__**Results**__
Jane

Kyley



Amy

**Hey guys!! So where did you guys conduct the experiment? Did you use your own camera, or did you manage to take a look at the cctv? I was not supposed to, but I managed to take a look at it. ^^ If you guys have a short video of your experiment, could you please upload it on youtube and upload the link? I have a short clip of the experiment, and I thought it would be nice to show a combined short clip of both of our experiments during the presentation. What do you guys think?** **Also, I have reviewed your elevator results, and I am sorry I did not count the number of males and females. I thought we were only counting the number of people who got on the elevator and who pressed the 'close button.' And could you guys do me a favor? If you guys don't mind, could you guys work out the percentages for the survey results? Similar to what I have done?** **One last question, are your survey results based on high school students? My results are based on high school students, mostly seniors and juniors. Nice work guys!!**

**Hey Jane!** **Alright, for the survey, we focused on high school students - I can work on the percentages for you. Alright regarding the elevator survey, we surveyed a few more in order to even up the number of people with yours. I hope to have the new data posted today or tomorrow sometime! I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause - I just want to make sure that it is as accurate as possible!! We did the elevator survey at the Marriot Hotel. Don't worry about the number of males vs. females, we just though it might be cool to see the difference! Amy is going to post the videos and pictures onto the wiki.**

**Hope you had a nice break :)** **Kyley and Amy**

**Hey Here is the New elevator results! ** **below are the survey results in percentages**





Hey I am sorry for uploading it a bit late. Please let me know if I need to make any further changes to the PPT. Amy could you post the videos, so that I can include them in our presentation? And also, were you guys able to look at the cctv film or did you just use your own camera?

Hey, Amy said she would upload the pictures and get those to you. No we were not able to look at the film due to protecting the privacy of the people.

__**PHOTOS:**__