Illusion of control

[Teacher]

Everything is under control: what we can influence and what we cannot
We believe we won the lottery because we are able to guess the correct numbers. We believe that if we press the elevator button not once, but five times, the doors will close faster. Where does the confidence come from that we are in control of situations in which nothing really depends on us? This happens against our will, but in many ways influences decisions, explains psychologist Jeremy Dean.
Sometimes we believe that we can influence events that are actually beyond our control. For example, we buy delicious apples and start thinking that we understand them. But the truth is, the store just got a great variety. We buy a lottery ticket, we win a million. And we decide that we are able to guess the lucky numbers, while the result of the drawing is nothing more than an accident. While most people know this, we secretly continue to hope that the chosen numbers have some meaning.
This is called the illusion of control. The term appeared more than forty years ago, and the effect itself has been repeatedly confirmed in the course of experiments. Sometimes this illusion manifests itself in the so-called magical thinking. Participants in one experiment observed a man trying to throw a ball into a basketball basket. When they unanimously wished him a good shot and he succeeded, they believed they had helped him, although in reality they had done nothing.

A useful misconception?
It is believed that the illusion of control is useful because it forces people to take responsibility. For example, someone who has been diagnosed with an illness can control it by taking medications, reconsidering their diet, and changing their lifestyle.
Studies show that patients who are allowed to take pain relievers at their own discretion are usually limited to a lower dose than those who strictly followed the doctor's orders.
“The belief that we can control the situation motivates us to act even when the chances of success are negligible,” says psychologist Jeremy Dean. Indeed, would you respond to vacancies if you knew that you have practically no influence on the employer's decision? Unlikely. But without that, they would not have gotten a job.
But the illusion of control isn't always good for us. Financial professionals often overestimate their ability to capture market sentiment. The more confident they are that they are in complete control of the situation, the less effective they are. The prudent win - those who do not rely on luck.
Unsurprisingly, some scientists believe that the illusion of control gets in the way of learning from mistakes and listening to constructive comments. The more we are convinced that we are in control, the more often we ignore external signals warning of danger.

"The illusion of powerlessness"
The illusion of control often leads us to behave imprudently. But it also happens the other way around. Sometimes we just have to take everything into our own hands, but we decide that nothing depends on us. To support this observation, a group of psychologists led by Professor Francesca Gino conducted a series of play experiments at the Harvard Business School and found that participants who were given complete freedom of choice underestimated their ability to influence the original result.
So those who say that the illusion of control is useful are right? In some situations, yes. We know that if you apply for more vacancies, your chances of finding a job are higher. That playing sports improves health, and you can lose weight only if you reduce the amount of calories consumed. We know that it is not worth spending money on the tenth bag if we are saving it for a car.
In each of these situations, everything depends exclusively on us, but we, oddly enough, are sure of the opposite. “Perhaps this effect should be called the 'illusion of powerlessness'. In other words, when we are in complete control of the situation, we tend to underestimate our strength. Perhaps that is why we often do not do enough, ”the psychologist believes.