Heads I win, tails it's chance: The illusion of control as a function of the sequence of outcomes in a purely chance task.

1975/12/01 by Ellen J. Langer, Jane Roth · 7 citations
Decision Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #Artificial intelligence #Cognitive psychology #Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis #Computer science #Control (management) #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Function (biology) #Gambling Behavior and Treatments #Illusion #Illusion of control #Psychology #Sequence (biology) #Social psychology #Task (project management)

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.32.6.951

crossref issued 1975/12/01 · crossref published 1975/12/01 · crossref published-online 1975/12/01 · openalex publication_date 1975/12/01 · crossref created 2006/06/09 · crossref deposited 2024/02/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17 · crossref indexed 2026/07/25

Citations

• The illusion of control.
• Judgment of contingency between responses and outcomes.

Cited by

• The influence of outcome desirability on optimism.
• Trading on illusions: Unrealistic perceptions of control and trading performance
• Keeping the illusion of control under control: Ceilings, floors, and imperfect calibration
• Illusions of control, underestimations, and accuracy: A control heuristic explanation.
• Illusion of control by proxy: Placing one's fate in the hands of another
• The Limits of Self-Control: Self-Control, Illusory Control, and Risky Financial Decision Making
• Illusion of control [wikipedia]