The illusion of control.

1975/08/01 by Ellen J. Langer · 23 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Gambling Behavior and Treatments #Psychology of Social Influence #Organizational Management and Leadership #Psychology #Illusion #Social psychology #Illusion of control #Control (management) #Perceived control #Cognitive psychology

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.32.2.311

openalex publication_date 1975/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

A series of studies was conducted to elucidate a phenomenon here referred to as the "illusion of control. " An illusion of control was denned as an ex-pectancy of a personal success probability inappropriately higher than the ob-jective probability would warrant. It was predicted that factors from skill situa-tions (competition, choice, familiarity, involvement) introduced into chance situations cause individuals to feel inappropriately confident. In Study 1 sub-jects cut cards against either a confident or a nervous competitor; in Study 2 lottery participants were or were not given a choice of ticket; in Study 3 lottery participants were or were not given a choice of either familiar or unfamiliar lottery tickets; in Study 4, in a novel chance game, subjects either had or did not have practice and responded either themselves or by proxy; in Study 5 lottery participants at a racetrack were asked their confidence at different times; finally, in Study 6 lottery participants either received a single three-digit ticket or one digit on each of 3 days. Indicators of confidence in all six studies sup-ported the prediction.

Citations

• Belief in a Just World and Reactions to Another's Lot: A Study of Participants in the National Draft Lottery1

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