May 6, 2022
The Wall Street Journal recently hosted a panel discussion with Questrom professor Carey Morewedge on the psychology of digital ownership, the drive to purchase NFT’s, and how society and consumption is moving from physical goods to digital goods.
During the discussion, Carey shares the three factors that contribute to the psychology of ownership: a feeling of control, a sense of having invested in the object, and having knowledge of the object. He goes on to explain that people often like to have ownership over these kinds of objects in order to engage in self-expression, express their identities, and have control over their environment, stating,
“What’s interesting about these kinds of NFT’s is, what distinguishes them from just a digital file is that you feel like you have some control through controlling access to the good, controlling who profits from the good, the more kind of property rights that become associated with the NFT, the more users will feel like they have some sense of control over that.”