Possession Effect

Possession Effect

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

The finding that physically holding an object raised its valuation, through stronger feelings of ownership, while being told it was owned did not.

What it is

The authors separated stated ownership from possession in endowment experiments. It is drawn from work by Jochen Reb and Terry Connolly (2007).

In effect

In the article on keeping things meant to be returned, an item held during a return window is possessed even though the sale can be undone.

What it does not say

The experiments separated holding an object from being told it was owned. They do not say that stated ownership never matters in other settings, and they did not study returns.

Sources

  1. Reb, J., & Connolly, T. (2007). Possession, feelings of ownership and the endowment effect. Judgment and Decision Making, 2(2), 107-114.