Possessed
Why We Want More Than We Need
Published in September 2019
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-19-069991-8 (ISBN)
Description
Ownership is on most people's lips these days, or at least the lack of ownership. Everywhere people seem to be fighting over what is theirs. They want to take back their property, their lands, their liberty, their bodies, their identity, and their right to do what they want. These are all things people can own. These demands are quite remarkable when you consider that ownership is not an observable property but rather an abstract concept. And yet this abstract
concept controls just about everything we do, and can do. What we can call ours, what we can do, where we can go, and who we are is all determined by ownership, but we rarely stop to consider how it rules our lives. Ownership even explains the anger and political turmoil that is currently sweeping over
Western democracies. People feel they have had something taken away, something they used to own in the past and want back.
concept controls just about everything we do, and can do. What we can call ours, what we can do, where we can go, and who we are is all determined by ownership, but we rarely stop to consider how it rules our lives. Ownership even explains the anger and political turmoil that is currently sweeping over
Western democracies. People feel they have had something taken away, something they used to own in the past and want back.
Reviews / Votes
"Hood challenges widely held beliefs about the benefits of consumerism for individuals and society, offering suggestions for better ways to lead meaningful and happy lives. This valuable contribution to the literature on self and society is wise, illuminating, lively, rigorously referenced, and well written, drawing on theory and research from multiple fields (developmental psychology, behavioral economics, anthropology, philosophy, law, social psychology,evolutionary psychology, biology, and neuroscience) to offer a timely perspective on the origins and consequences of the human motivation to possess people, places, and things. Essential reading for all."
-- CHOICE
"Beautifully written and brilliantly argued, Possessed is one of the few things you really need to own." -- Dan Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
"Science writing as its best. Possessed is beautifully written, funny, smart, and on a topic that is central to our lives." -- Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, Yale University
"Bruce Hood convincingly shows that we are possessed with possessions, but his book is one possession you have to have, especially now. Engagingly written, Possessed brings psychological science to bear on understanding how to exorcise this demon." -- Robert Plomin, Professor of Behavioural Genetics at Kings College London and author of Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are
"Ownership is a surprisingly nuanced and wonderfully colorful topic, and no one is better poised to tell its story than psychologist and author Bruce Hood. The book he's written is a page-turner that puts our intuitions under the spotlight at every turn" -- David Eagleman, Stanford University neuroscientist; New York Times bestselling author
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
455 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-069991-8 (9780190699918)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bruce Hood is Professor of Developmental Psychology in Society at Bristol University. He undertook his Ph.D. at Cambridge followed by appointments at University College London, MIT and a faculty professor at Harvard. He researches child development, origins of superstition and self-identity. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society, the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the British Psychological Society. Bruce gave the Royal
Institution Christmas Lectures in 2011 and has written three popular science books - SuperSense, The Self Illusion and The Domesticated Brain. He is working on his fourth book about ownership. Bruce is the founder of Speakezee - the world's largest academic speaker platform connecting experts with
audiences.
Institution Christmas Lectures in 2011 and has written three popular science books - SuperSense, The Self Illusion and The Domesticated Brain. He is working on his fourth book about ownership. Bruce is the founder of Speakezee - the world's largest academic speaker platform connecting experts with
audiences.
Content
Prologue
Chapter 1: Do We Really Own Anything?
Chapter 2: Why Do We Need To Own?
Chapter 3: Origins of Ownership
Chapter 4: It's Only Fair
Chapter 5: Possessions, Wealth & Happiness
Chapter 6: We Are What We Own
Chapter 7: Sacred Stuff
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
References
Chapter 1: Do We Really Own Anything?
Chapter 2: Why Do We Need To Own?
Chapter 3: Origins of Ownership
Chapter 4: It's Only Fair
Chapter 5: Possessions, Wealth & Happiness
Chapter 6: We Are What We Own
Chapter 7: Sacred Stuff
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
References