Do people have an innate preference to take matters into their own hands? People usually want to make their own decisions. Those looking for spouses often listen to their inner romantic instincts and reject advice from more experienced people. Drivers are skeptical about self-driving cars and would feel safer driving themselves. In some cases, even when unjustified, people would rather take matters into their own hands.
A convenient explanation of this is overconfidence. People may be overly confident about their ability to choose the best decision. However, it seems that this is not everything.
Even those who know that it is better to let experts decide for them have bursts of distrust. People routinely decide not to follow doctor advice, even though they know they don't have good reasons to do so. Even those exposed to thorough research on how romantic instincts are not long-lasting follow their heart when choosing spouses.
These observations lead me to suspect that people simply have an innate preference to take matters into their own hands. Is there research that can speak to this conjecture?
This is called the illusion of control:

... the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control
events; for example, it occurs when someone feels a sense of control
over outcomes that they demonstrably do not influence.

Some examples from the same source:

Subjects are either given tickets at random or allowed to choose their
own. They can then trade their tickets for others with a higher chance
of paying out. Subjects who had chosen their own ticket were more
reluctant to part with it. ... Participants who chose their own
numbers were less likely to trade their ticket even for one in a game
with better odds.
On average, drivers regard accidents as much less likely in
&quot;high-control&quot; situations, such as when they are driving, than in
&quot;low-control&quot; situations, such as when they are in the passenger seat.
They also rate a high-control accident, such as driving into the car
in front, as much less likely than a low-control accident such as
being hit from behind by another driver.

The illusion of control is one of several positive illusions that people have about themselves.