Illusion of control: what really depends on us

Most elevators have a door close button on the panel. Impatient passengers like to press it to get away quickly. True, they do not know that their efforts are useless, most often managers and engineers deactivate this button. And although there is no effect from pressing, people continue to push her hard. Here is just one example of the illusion of control. We act like we can control something, even when we can’t.

The illusion of control is one of the many “positive illusions” recorded in psychology. On the one hand, it has a positive effect, because it encourages you to act confidently and deal with difficulties. On the other hand, it leads to the fact that we waste our energy on senseless resistance, and here there is no need to talk about the positive. When we overestimate the possibilities, we risk making tragic mistakes, for which we will later have to pay dearly. An example would be refusing medical treatment because of the false belief that, for example, cancer can be cured by right thinking or laughter.

Apple founder Steve Jobs, upon learning of the diagnosis, decided to supervise the treatment of pancreatic cancer himself. Surgery and chemotherapy were recommended to him, but Jobs, a man of immense self-confidence, undertook to treat cancer with acupuncture, herbs, and a special diet. When he agreed to the operation, the cancer had spread to such an extent that parts of the pancreas, gallbladder, stomach, bile duct, and small intestine had to be removed. In 2011, Steve Jobs died.

Companies are looking for ways to influence consumer perceptions through advertising, although there is little reason to hope for effectiveness. John Wanamaker, a well-known figure in the history of marketing and sales, once noted: “Half the money spent on advertising has gone to the sand. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” And instead of relying on theory, companies continue to invest in advertising, believing that they can influence the choice of customers and buyers.

How to check the effectiveness of advertising? One way is to conduct a series of randomly controlled experiments in which randomly selected consumers are shown promotional materials. Most likely, their content will pass by the minds of many customers. But how often do companies conduct such experiments in sufficient volume? Few people are capable of putting faith in control to the test. When companies do decide to make sure their ads work, they find amazing results. eBay admitted that the return on investment in advertising can be negative.

Isn’t it reasonable to assume, based on all this, that we have no control over our health or how our clients perceive us? Here lies the opposite mistake – to underestimate the ability to control the situation. There are as many unfortunate cases as you can think of when opportunities were missed because people believed they had no power over the situation. As a result, a failure where you could take everything into your own hands.

A misjudgment of the extent to which we are capable of influencing something can lead to defeatist attitudes, while self-confidence could help maintain control. The feeling of helplessness affects everything: how we choose to fight addictions, how we fight for political change, and how we change the culture of the environment or organizations in which we work. For example, consider another common situation – the fight against excess weight. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and almost all of them would be happy to lose weight. Obviously, the path to this is through fewer donuts and more sweat in the gym. And yet, many people reach the stage of obesity.

In 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) decided to recognize obesity as a disease. Official confirmation that this is a disease makes obese people feel that the situation is beyond their control. In one study, participants were asked to read news stories about the AMA’s decision and how it resulted in insurance companies paying for obesity pills, surgery, and counseling. In addition, the degree of stigmatization of obesity has decreased. Once obese study participants learned of the AMA’s decision, their intention to stick to the diet became weaker.

The courage to be honest with yourself brings many benefits. How good am I? To what extent is he able to control his life? In which situation is effort more likely to be rewarded? Answering these questions requires self-confidence, which is based on objective reality and facts, and which requires introspection and reflection, and not belief in miracles. Calibrate it and you’ll end up with much better results than you hoped for. As one prayer said: “Lord, give me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, give me the courage to change what I can change. And give me wisdom to distinguish one from the other.