Psychological ownership and affective reaction: Emotional attachment process variables and the endowment effect

Abstract

This research proposes that the concept of emotional attachment, and specifically the independent constructs of psychological ownership and affective reaction, can help explain many of the endowment effect findings documented in the literature. We define these constructs and then test them across a set of nine studies in which we both replicate previous and generate new endowment effect findings, and then show that psychological ownership and affective reaction can mediate the effects. In doing so, we offer direct empirical support for the idea of emotional attachment as a driver of loss aversion while also providing practitioners and future endowment effect researchers with new insights about the psychological processes that underlie the endowment effect.

Unraveling the Personalization Paradox: The Effect of Information Collection and Trust-Building Strategies on Online Advertisement Effectiveness

“…Shu and Peck (2011) argue that this theory can explain many endowment effects documented in prior literature, yet related research remains limited. It would be helpful to determine which personality traits or demographic characteristics might correlate with psychological ownership.…”

The Endowment Effect as Self-Enhancement in Response to Threat

“…The study was a single factor (product evaluation: superficial vs. thorough) betweenparticipants experimental design. Similar to prior research (Shu and Peck 2011, study 2; Strahilevitz and Loewenstein 1998, study 2) examining process evidence, we consider only the sellers because the objective of the study was to provide evidence toward both self-object association and self-threat. The participants were seated in separate cubicles in front of computers and randomly assigned to the superficial or thorough examination condition.…”

The need to belong and the value of belongings: Does ostracism change the subjective value of personal possessions?

“…Both provide a rich account of the function served by these feelings; however, the scope of empirical inquiry into this issue is restricted (but see Baer & Brown, 2012;Peck & Shu, 2009;Shu & Peck, 2011). The current work aims to address this limitation by focusing on the role played by basic needs in the formation of psychological ownership testing whether threatening these psychological needs enhance feelings of ownership towards one"s possessions (as would be expected if the motivation for developing such feelings is to fulfill these needs).…”