Editing Illusion of control (section)

==History==
Psychological theorists have consistently emphasized the importance of perceptions of control over life events. One of the earliest instances was when [[Alfred Adler]] argued that people strive for proficiency in their lives. [[Fritz Heider|Heider]] later proposed that humans have a strong motive to control their environment and Wyatt Mann hypothesized a basic competence motive that people satisfy by exerting control. [[Bernard Weiner|Wiener]], an [[Attribution (psychology)|attribution]] theorist, modified his original theory of achievement motivation to include a controllability dimension. [[Harold Kelley|Kelley]] then argued that people's failure to detect noncontingencies may result in their attributing uncontrollable outcomes to personal causes. Nearer to the present, Taylor and Brown<ref name="taylor"/> argued that positive illusions, including the illusion of control, foster mental health.<ref name="Social behavior">{{cite journal| vauthors = Presson PK, Benassi VA |title=Illusion of control: A meta-analytic review|journal=Journal of Social Behavior & Personality|year=1996|volume=11|issue=3|url=http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1996-06041-006}}</ref>

The effect was named by U.S. psychologist [[Ellen Langer]] and has been replicated in many different contexts.<ref name="plous171">{{harvnb |Plous|1993|p=171}}</ref>