The illusion of control refers to the phenomenon of feeling in control over an outcome that is not caused by our action (e.g. gambling). But how can we misinterpret our level of control? According to Thompson et al. (2004), we use a control heuristic that is based on our intention to achieve a desired outcome when assessing how much control we have. To better understand the motivational basis of illusions of control, we developed a self-report questionnaire operationalizing the different aspects of intentions proposed by Thompson et al. (2004). Exploratory factor analyses (N = 322) of the 36 items revealed a four-factor structure with the dimensions “generative intention to produce a desired outcome”, “preventive intention to avoid an aversive outcome”, “systematicity” and “involvement”. First validation results involving (a) the different facets of intention, (b) experimentally induced illusions of control, and (c) other relevant measures such as different kinds of control beliefs, will be presented and discussed.

Reference:
Thompson, S. C., Kyle, D., Osgood, A., Quist, R. M., Phillips, D. J., & McClure, M. (2004). Illusory Control and Motives for Control: The Role of Connection and Intentionality. Motivation and Emotion, 28(4), 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-004-2386-0