My articles from 2021

why are we so attached to our things?

note(sorry for the long update but I eventually did it right? the image isn't really good)

Why are we so attached to our things?

After witnessing the violent rage shown by babies whenever they are deprived of an item they consider their own.

Jean Piaget, a founding father of child psychology, our sense of ownership shows up very early.

Why are we so clingy?

There's a well-established psychology phenomenon known as the endowment effect

where we value things much higher as soon as we own them.

In a famous study where college students were given a reward for helping out

with reasearch.

They were given a choice for the reward for a coffee mug or a swiss chocolate bar.

Half of the students chose the mug, the others chose the chocolate. They seem

to value both equally. Other students were given a mug and got a surprise chance to swap it for a chocolate bar but only 11% wanted too. It was reversed too but only a few wanted to again. They seemed to value their original item more than the other.

Part of this is connected to how fast we make connections to things we consider our own; this can even be seen on a neural level.
Some students were put to a test they would alternate between different things.

For example, a basket labeled mine and another labeled Alex's. When the students looked at their new things. An area in their brains showed more activity; the area that only flickers when we think about ourselves.

(try to shorten each of below sentence to make it a complete sentence)

Another reason is because when we are young we believe they have an essence

Psychologists showed us this by using an illusion to convince 3 - 6 year olds they built a copy machine that could make exact copies of their favorite toy when offered a choice between their favorite toy or a copy they picked the original. This isn't something we grow out of as it persists to adulthood.

For example the high value of things owned by celebrities, it's like buyers think they have an essence.

this belief can even change our athletic abilities

They made people who played golf think they had the stick of the world golf champion. They sank slightly more puts.

Although our sense of ownership emerges early, culture also plays a role.

It was recently discovered the people of the Hodja northern Tanzania people who are isolated from modern culture don't experience the effect it may because almost everything is shared there.

the thing we don't know is how our sense of ownership will change through the rise of digital

technology.

Perhaps there will always be something unique about holding an object you can call your own.

Thank you for reading.