THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL AS A CATEGORY OF THE ILLUSION OF THINKING

Abstract

People often make mistakes evaluating their personal control over certain situations. It is the result of a normal functioning of cognitive system. The illusion of control is a cognitive bias. It is our tendency to believe that, or act as if, we can skillfully influence and control outcomes of chance events. The illusion of control occurs when individuals overestimate their personal influence over an outcome. The article provides a theoretical analysis of the concept of «the illusion of control» in cognitive psychology. Langer (1975) originally proposed that the illusion of control occurs because people confuse skills and chance situations. Langer found that people’s confidence in their chances of winning was influenced by many different factors—none of which actually had any effect on their chances of winning. Thompson et al. (1998) have presented a more comprehensive explanation of the illusion of control based on a control heuristic that can account for more of the findings. According to the control heuristic explanation, people use both connection and intention to judge their control. Because both can be present even when control is not, personal control is often overestimated. The illusion of control is affected by skill-related factors, success or failure emphasis, need or desire for the outcome, mood, intrusion of reality, power, and regulatory focus. The illusion of control consists of overestimating the influence that our behavior exerts over uncontrollable outcomes. The challenge for scientists is to research how individuals manage their use of illusory control across a variety of circumstances to find optimal effects.

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