Psychological Aspects of Property and Ownership

Although property lawyers and theorists were always interested in the legal doctrinal construction of property rights and in political, moral, or economic justifications of property rights through the course of history, they very rarely looked into possible psychological roots of property rights and the powers they entail. Similarly, psychologists (whether with a focus on individual or social psychology) provide models for the explanation of a person's behaviour and the social interactions of humans, but they rarely touch upon property rights at all, and if so, only in brief passing comments. The one extensive study on the social psychology of property appeared 75 years ago. This paper looks into modern research of individual and social psychology and assesses whether some of the findings can be used to explain a psychological basis for the existence and importance of property rights. That may also be a starting point for a modern interdisciplinary study in this area