An erroneous belief that one can control events. People who have no control over events often think they can control them. As Mark Twain said in describing a fight. “Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him heavily to the ground on top of me.” Even gamblers have an illusion of control (Langer and Roth 1975). <o:p></o:p></P>
<ul>
  <li>Langer, E. J. &amp; J. Roth (1975), “Heads I win, tails 
it’s chance: The illusion of control as a function of the sequence of outcomes 
in a purely chance task,” <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Journal of 
Personality and Social Psychology</I>,” 32, 951-955.</li>
</ul>