illusion of control
Phantom steering wheel
The illusion of control is the tendency to believe you can influence outcomes that are actually determined by chance.
A gambler who blows on dice before rolling, a sports fan who wears a lucky jersey, or an investor who trades frequently all exhibit this bias—acting as though their behavior affects random events.
She knew the lottery was pure luck, but picking her own numbers gave her an illusion of control.
- overconfidenceUnjustified certainty in oneself
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- lucky charmObject thought to bring fortune
- rabbit's footSupposed good-luck amulet
- gamblerOne who bets
casino floor · dice · dice roll · coin flip · luck · ritual · button · placebo · steering · back seat driver · prediction · crystal ball · certainty · wishful · manipulation · agency · fate · free will
- behavioral economicsloss aversion, nudge, anchoring, cognitive bias, heuristics
- cognitive biasesconfirmation bias, anchoring bias, negativity bias, framing effect, optimism bias
- gambling psychologygambler's fallacy, loss aversion, chasing losses, near miss, sunk cost fallacy
- perception errorsmisperception, visual distortion, blind spot, hallucination, afterimage
illusion of controllearned helplessness
Trauma-induced belief in powerlessness
fatalism · defeatism · resignation · powerlessness · self-doubt
illusion, illusory, illusions, illusionist, illusive, disillusion, disillusioned, disillusionment, control