Illusion of Control

Definition

The illusion of control (also known as illusory control) refers to the tendency for people to exaggerate their ability to produce a desired outcome. Even when it comes to controlling random events, people believe they have control.

Factors That Influence Illusory Control

Traditionally, people assumed accurate self-knowledge was crucial for survival and health. In this formulation, people possessed the ability to correctly judge control over their environments; accurate knowledge of when one's actions produced particular outcomes—and when they did not—was thought to be critical for functioning effectively in the world. In a broad sense, this is true. For example, mentally healthy people know they cannot control whether the sun rises and sets each day. At the same time, though, a feeling of being in control is vital for self-esteem and mental health. The problem is people generally overestimate the amount of control they have over events.

People do not always overestimate their control, however; contextual factors and characteristics of the people involved are both very important. At least six factors contribute to an illusion of control. First, people must themselves produce the action; others cannot act for them. Second, the situation is familiar, rather than unfamiliar. Third, people know in advance their desired outcome. Fourth, people believe they exert more control in successful situations than in failure situations: No one wants to assume unnecessary responsibility when things go wrong. Fifth, people in depressed moods tend to believe they have less control over events than people in nondepressed moods. (Interestingly, depressed individuals are usually less susceptible to the illusion of control than nondepressed individuals; their apparent underestimation of control actually turns out to be somewhat more realistic.) Sixth, a personality variable that researchers call the need for control seems to influence illusions of control, though this topic requires further study.

Evidence

A large body of evidence supports the illusion of control. Gambling, for example, would likely lose much of its appeal without people's slightly altered perceptions of control. When gambling, people believe they can control chance events. For example, studies have demonstrated people think they have more control over the outcome of a dice game if they throw the dice themselves than if someone else throws the dice for them, and they are less apt to sell a lottery ticket they chose than a ticket chosen by someone else (presumably because people errantly infer the odds of winning increase because they threw the dice or bought the ticket). In another study, participants cut cards against a competitor (the person drawing the highest card was the winner). In one condition in the experiment, the competitor dressed poorly and appeared nervous; in the other condition, the competitor dressed elegantly and looked poised. Even though the appearance of the competitor has no objective influence on the outcome of the game, participants wagered more money when playing against the nervous competitor than when playing against the composed competitor.

Research also seems to confirm that depressed individuals are less susceptible to illusions of control [Page 458]than nondepressed individuals. In an early experiment on this topic, researchers told participants that pressing a button might (or might not) turn on a green light (in reality, whether the light turned on was prearranged; button pressing actually had no effect). In one condition, participants gained $0.25 for every time the light appeared. In another condition, they lost $0.25 each time they “failed” to make the light appear. Participants then rated the extent to which their actions (pressing the button) caused the result (the light turning on). Results of the study demonstrated nondepressed individuals thought they were more responsible for the light turning on than depressed individuals, especially when their actions brought about desired outcomes (i.e., gaining $0.25 as opposed to losing $0.25).

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