Levels of Superstitious Belief and Perceived Control There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that highly superstitious people tend to believe 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 out of fear that their team would lose if they did not engage in these actions. Credible studies have been conducted in relation to 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 ability (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Hiroto & Seligman 1975). An opposite but valid study established by Matute (1994, 1995) demonstrated that when participants were faced with an uncontrollable task they tended to respond according to their level of superstitious behavior and generated an illusion of control. Therefore, highly superstitious participants would have a greater illusion of control compared to their less superstitious counterparts who would have a lower illusion of control. Langer (1975) describes an “illusion of control” as the mistaken belief that one can once influence outcomes in situations in which one has no control. Studies similar to those of Matute have often been reported in the scientific literature (Ono, 1987; Rudski, Lischner, & Albert, 1999). It has become evident that learned helplessness is usually observed in only two-thirds of human participants (Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale, 1978; and Hiroto, 1974). Therefore, Matute's hypothesis appears to be of greater consistency than a large amount of studies completed on similar top... half of the article... The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48(2), 142- 157. Langer , E. J. (1975). The illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(2), 311.Ono, K. (1987). Superstitious behavior in humans. Journal of Experimental Behavior Analysis, 47(3), 261-271. Rudski, J. M., Lischner, M. I., & Albert, L. M. (2012). The generation of superstitious rules is influenced by the probability and type of outcome. The Psychological Documentation, 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 unsolvable problem. Personality and individual differences, 26(6), 1057-1064. Keinan, G. (1994). Effects of stress and ambiguity tolerance on magical thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(1), 48.