Mere Ownership Effect Is Equally Pronounced in Material and Immaterial Objects

Bialek, Michal, Michał Stefańczyk, and Marta Rokosz. 2021. “Mere Ownership Effect Is Equally Pronounced in Material and Immaterial Objects.” PsyArXiv. October 27. doi:10.31234/osf.io/c9sbm

Abstract: The mere ownership effect is an increase in the subjective value of owned objects compared to identical but non-owned objects. We tested whether the effect differs in magnitude between material and immaterial objects (e.g., information). Three hundred participants played an incentivized detective game in which they had to connect clues to identify a murderer. Their task was to evaluate the usefulness of the clues they or their partners were endowed with. Despite the fact that the immaterial clues were rated as more useful than the material ones, we found the mere ownership effect to be similarly strong for the material and the immaterial clues.