A psychological ownership approach to designing object attachment

The mental state in which an individual claims an object as theirs is called psychological ownership. Psychological ownership is associated with motives, routes, affordances, and outcomes directly linked to attachment. This research introduces psychological ownership in the context of designing obje...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of engineering design 2015-06, Vol.26 (4-6), p.140-156
Main Authors: Baxter, Weston L., Aurisicchio, Marco, Childs, Peter R.N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
affordance design
Attachment
Benches
Cell phones
Decisions
Design engineering
design strategy
Designers
emotional attachment
Engineering design
object attachment
Ownership
Parks
Principles
Psychological aspects
psychological ownership
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Summary:The mental state in which an individual claims an object as theirs is called psychological ownership. Psychological ownership is associated with motives, routes, affordances, and outcomes directly linked to attachment. This research introduces psychological ownership in the context of designing object attachment and identifies affordance principles that help facilitate it. A framework presenting the motives for and routes to psychological ownership is proposed to provide a holistic understanding of object attachment. In the framework each route to psychological ownership, that is, control, intimate knowledge, and self-investment, has a corresponding class of affordances. Overall a total of 16 affordance principles are identified through contextual inquiry with 4 objects (a car, a mobile phone, a pair of shoes, and a park bench). Previous studies have identified various elements of this framework but have fallen short of clearly defining and relating the motives, routes, and affordances to psychological ownership identified here. These affordance principles are readily mapped to experience design models and provide a practical resource for designers. Together, the framework and the affordances inform design decisions and move towards a prescriptive design method for facilitating object attachment.
ISSN:0954-4828
1466-1837
DOI:10.1080/09544828.2015.1030371