Mere Ownership Revisited: A Robust Effect?

Abstract

Beggan (1992) published a program of studies that tested the concept of mere ownership. His interesting results, in support of Nuttin's (1985, 1987) earlier work, detected that participants who receive an item as a gift (and hence who acquire ownership) evaluate that item more favorably than do participants who examine an identical item but do not own it. Beggan attributed these results to a private self‐enhancement effect. Our research set out to better understand the operative theoretical mechanism and to test the robustness of the mere‐ownership effect. Findings from our program of studies lead us to question whether the mere‐ownership effect is as robust as Beggan's findings would suggest. We have demonstrated that the magnitude of effect is weaker than what Beggan detected. The prospect is raised that mere‐ownership effects may simply represent a form of experimenter bias.

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