A recent study, conducted by psychologists Jennifer Whitson and Adam Galinsky and widely presented in the latest issue of the journal Science, managed to find a connection between the lack of control that people sometimes experience and illusory perceptions.

The conclusion was that sometimes "when individuals are unable to gain a sense of control objectively, they will try to gain it perceptually." The main ideea is that people who find themselves in a situation where they feel unappreciated and unrewarded may develop a sense of powerless, which results in associating random events with certain bad or good moments. Also, feelings of paranoia might surface or they might develop rituals to increase the good luck.

The tests included six experiments reached several conclusions, including that superstitions and good luck rituals are a direct result of the people’s need for control. The two psychologists presented the participants with three scenarios containing two unconnected events each, such as "knocking on wood before an important meeting and getting one's idea approved." The participants saw more connection between the unrelated events and agreed that good luck rituals have a certain impact on their activities.

Whitson and Galinsky wrote that psychological security "reduce the obsessive-compulsive tendencies or sinister attributions engendered by seeing too much meaning and intentions in others' innocuous behaviors." They concluded that people who find themselves in these situations when they feel like the control is slipping away, should think of all their qualities, as self-affirmation procedures can offer a much healthier sense of control than the illusory pattern seeking.