Illusions of Control

@article{Thompson1999IllusionsOC,
  title={Illusions of Control},
  author={Suzanne C. Thompson},
  journal={Current Directions in Psychological Science},
  year={1999},
  volume={8},
  pages={187 - 190}
}
  • S. Thompson
  • Published 1 December 1999
  • Psychology
  • Current Directions in Psychological Science
Illusions of control are common even in purely chance situations. They are particularly likely to occur in settings that are characterized by personal involvement, familiarity, foreknowledge of the desired outcome, and a focus on success. Person-based factors that affect illusions of control include depressive mood and need for control. One explanation of illusory control is that it is due to a control heuristic that is used to estimate control by assessing the factors of intentionality and… 
View on SAGE
46 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
20
Methods Citations
1

46 Citations

Free will and paranormal beliefs

  • K. Mogi
  • Psychology, Philosophy
    Front. Psychol.
  • 2014
A positive correlation between the belief in free will and paranormal beliefs (UFO, reincarnation, astrology, and psi) is reported, consistent with the view that free will is an illusion which shares common cognitive elements with paranormal beliefs.

Perceptions of Control Influence Feelings of Boredom

It is suggested that beliefs concerning prospective control, rather than a given level of perceived control per se, may predict engagement and boredom.

“Take care, honey!”: People are more anxious about their significant others' risk behavior than about their own

Perceived Control in the Lab and in Daily Life Impact Emotion-Induced Temporal Distortions

Prior research has shown that the arousal and valence dimensions of emotional images distort the perceived duration of those images. Further, these time distortions are eliminated when observers…

Having Control Over and Above Situations: The Influence of Elevated Viewpoints on Risk Taking

  • Ata Jami
  • Business
    Journal of Marketing Research
  • 2019
This article examines how consumers’ exposure to the viewpoint of high versus low vertical position changes their risk-taking behavior. The author proposes that consumers’ views of scenery from a…

Positive illusions and its association with cardiovascular functions.

  • Y. P. WhyRaymond Huang
  • Psychology
    International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology
  • 2011

Pensadores autónomos, pensadores irracionales

We are living, it is often said, in a time that is characterised by the rise of irrational beliefs and the disregard of scientific knowledge. However, our time is also characterised by the praise—at…

Goal adjustment capacities in uncontrollable life circumstances: Benefits for psychological well-being during COVID-19

Examination of the influence of goal disengagement and reengagement on levels and change in psychological well-being for individuals who differed in perceived control over their goals early in the COVID-19 pandemic found findings inform theories of motivation and self-regulation and point to the adaptive value of goal reeng engagement capacities during uncontrollable life circumstances.

Illusion of control in farmers’ investment and financing decisions

PurposePeople’s tendency to overestimate their ability to control random events, known as illusion of control, can affect financial decisions under uncertainty. This study developed an artifactual…

Compensatory word of mouth: Advice as a device to restore control

References

SHOWING 1-7 OF 7 REFERENCES

Illusions of control, underestimations, and accuracy: a control heuristic explanation.

It is proposed that individuals use a control heuristic that includes perceptions of intentionality and connection that is based on foreseeability, ability to produce the effect, and valence of the outcome.

Illusion of control: invulnerability to negative affect and depressive symptoms after laboratory and natural stressors.

The stress-moderating effect of the illusion of control on later depressive symptoms appeared to be mediated in part by its effect on reducing the discouragement subjects experienced from the occurrence of negative life events.

The illusion of control.

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 expectancy of a personal success probability…

Maternal self-efficacy: illusory control and its effect on susceptibility to learned helplessness.

The data suggest that high illusion of control may be a maladaptive response to the performance demands of child care.

Need State and the Illusion of Control

Two investigations tested the hypothesis that the need for a randomly determined outcome influences the degree of perceived skill involved in attaining the outcome, which, in turn, influences the…

Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: sadder but wiser?

Depressed students' judgments of contingency were surprisingly accurate in all four experiments and predictions derived from social psychology concerning the linkage between subjective and objective contingencies were confirmed for nondepressed students but not for depressed students.

Induced mood and the illusion of control.

Alloy and Abramson reported that depressed students give relatively accurate judgments of the degree of contingency between their responses and outcomes while nondepressed students show an "illusion…