Levels of superstitious belief and perceived control There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that highly superstitious people tend to believe that they have some degree of control over events over which they objectively have none. This is exemplified by highly superstitious sports fans who must participate in superstitious rituals lest their team lose if they do not engage in these actions. Credible studies have been done on levels of superstitious beliefs and uncontrollable tasks. One study reports that learned helplessness occurs when participants are faced with uncontrollable tasks and is characterized by decreased motivation and cognitive abilities (Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale, 1978; Hiroto and Seligman 1975). An opposing but valid study, instituted by Matute (1994, 1995), showed that when participants were presented with an uncontrollable task, they tended to react according to their level of superstitious behavior and generate an illusion of control. Thus, highly superstitious participants would have a higher illusion of control than their less superstitious counterparts who would have a lower illusion of control. Langer (1975) describes an “illusion of control” as the erroneous belief that one can influence outcomes in situations in which one has no control. Studies similar to those of Matute have frequently been reported in the scientific literature (Ono, 1987; Rudski, Lischner and Albert, 1999). It has become evident that learned helplessness is typically observed in only two-thirds of human participants (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; and Hiroto, 1974). Thus, Matute's hypothesis appears to have greater consistency with a large number of studies done on similar topics...... middle of article...... The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48 (2), 142-157. Langer, EJ (1975). The illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(2), 311. Ono, K. (1987). Superstitious behavior in humans. Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 47(3), 261-271.Rudski, JM, Lischner, MI, & Albert, LM (2012). Superstitious rule generation is affected by probability and type of outcome. The Psychological Record, 49(2), 5. Hiroto, D. S. (1974). Locus of control and learned helplessness. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 102(2), 187. Dudley, R. T. (1999). The effect of superstitious belief on performance following an intractable problem. Personality and Individual Differences, 26(6), 1057-1064. Keinan, G. (1994). Effects of stress and tolerance of ambiguity on magical thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(1), 48.