illusion of control

Many, if not all, people have their own superstitious beliefs that compels them to do rituals before an event, small or large.  I knew some Marines who would always pray before going outside the wire, but in actuality, if they prayed or not, that IED (improvised explosive device) would be in that road no matter what they did before going out.  What matter to them though, was that they felt safer going out because they had been able to pray.  This is the illusion of control.

Just like you see basketball players bounce it twice before shooting a free throw, they feel like the bounce will help them to make the free throw.  The illusion of control is the tendency for people to believe that a desired event occurs when they do a certain behavior.  It was first developed by Dr. Ellen Langer, the first female to ever be tenured in psychology at Harvard University.  The illusion of control is one of the three “positive illusions,” the others being illusory superiority and optimism bias.

Dr. Ellen Langer’s research found that people were more likely to behave in such a way that they thought they had control over an event if it involved, “skill cues.”  Skill cues are related to situations in which the person believes skill has something to do with the outcome.  The best example of this was found in gambling (rolling dice in craps); research showed that people would throw dice hard trying to get a higher number but throwing softer for a lower number.

Since coming out with this theory in 1975, there have many complementary theories and many criticisms as well, but it is hard to argue that the illusion of control does not exist when we do it every day of our lives.