Really Owning It (08-19-10)

When does something really belong to someone?  The answer to this question is pertinent to designers because perceptions of ownership influence the extent to which a territory is respected by others and defended/enhanced.  Kannigiese and her colleagues determined that participants in their study “Were more likely to transfer [perceived] ownership to the second individual after he or she invested creative labor in the object than after any other manipulations (holding the object, making small changes to it). . . . Duration of manipulation had no effect on property-ownership transfer.”  Creative labor was not well defined in the study but generally involved a significant manipulation of the object that resulted in a meaningful change in the way it was understood.

Patricia Kannigiese, Nathalia Gjersoe, and Bruce Hood.  “The Effect of Creative Labor on Property-Ownership Transfer by Preschool Children and Adults.”  Psychological Science, in press.