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control
You feel more capable when you believe you have control.
A 1975 study demonstrated that people were less likely to sell a lottery ticket if they were the ones who had chosen the numbers personally.
The illusion of control is the tendency to believe that your actions influence outcomes that are actually dictated by chance. This makes you hold on to risks longer than you should. You equate effort with influence.
You treat luck like a skill you have mastered.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Langer (1975), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- What the check found
- Ellen Langer's 1975 paper 'The illusion of control' (JPSP) confirms that participants who chose their own lottery numbers set significantly higher selling prices, reflecting the identified psychological effect.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.