I Am Not a Lucky Person: An Examination of the Dimensionality of Beliefs About Chance

The purpose of this article was to verify whether beliefs about chance are multi or unidimensional constructs. Traditionally, authors who assessed beliefs about chance postulated that individuals who perceive themselves as unlucky usually believe that chance is random and are less confident as well as more anxious. Curiously, it appears that sometimes these individuals act as if they were motivated to avoid negative consequences. In order to better understand these puzzling findings, two studies were performed to compare three instruments intended to assess beliefs about chance and to verify their causal properties. In total, 285 students filled out a battery of instruments, including chance questionnaires (LOC, BIGL and MBIC) and personality traits. Overall, results showed that luck, through perceived controllability, seems to be related to volitional control, whereas chance, which is more stable and less controllable than luck, can be associated with cognitive distortions. The implications of these results are discussed.