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Psychological ownership and affective reaction: Emotional attachment process variables and the endowment effect
Author(s) -
Shu Suzanne B.,
Peck Joann
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2011.01.002
Subject(s) - endowment effect , endowment , psychology , set (abstract data type) , social psychology , loss aversion , process (computing) , empirical research , test (biology) , cognitive psychology , microeconomics , economics , epistemology , philosophy , computer science , operating system , paleontology , biology , programming language
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.