Previous research suggests that choice causes an illusion of control-that it makes people feel more likely to achieve preferable outcomes, even when they are selecting among options that are functionally identical (e.g., lottery tickets with an identical chance of winning). This research has been widely accepted as evidence that choice can have significant welfare effects, even when it confers no actual control. In this article, we report the results of 17 experiments that examined whether choice truly causes an illusion of control (N = 10,825 online and laboratory participants). We found that choice rarely makes people feel more likely to achieve preferable outcomes-unless it makes the preferable outcomes actually more likely-and when it does, it is not because choice causes an illusion but because choice reflects some participants' preexisting (illusory) beliefs that the functionally identical options are not identical. Overall, choice does not seem to cause an illusion of control.

中文翻译：

---

选择会导致控制错觉吗？

先前的研究表明，选择会导致一种控制错觉——它使人们感觉更有可能获得更好的结果，即使他们在功能相同的选项中进行选择（例如，中奖机会相同的彩票）。这项研究已被广泛接受为证据，即选择可以产生显着的福利影响，即使它没有实际控制。在本文中，我们报告了 17 个实验的结果，这些实验检查了选择是否真的会导致控制错觉（N = 10,825 在线和实验室参与者）。我们发现，选择很少让人们觉得更有可能获得更好的结果——除非它实际上使更好的结果更有可能——而当它这样做时，不是因为选择导致了错觉，而是因为选择反映了一些参与者的想法 预先存在的（虚幻的）信念，即功能相同的选项并不相同。总体而言，选择似乎不会导致控制错觉。