Origins of Possession
Owning and Sharing in Development

This book studies the psychology surrounding the development of owning and sharing in humans across different cultures.

Philippe Rochat (Author)

9781107032125, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 September 2014

336 pages, 2 tables
23.5 x 15.5 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

'Relying on Rousseau's 'Second Discourse', Rochat shows how the idea of property led humans to abandon a natural state of sharing with all other animals to a state in which claims of ownership, combined with the acceptance of such claims by others, set a new standard for civil society based on possession. Rochat creates a fascinating discourse by integrating ideas from philosophy, biology, sociology, and anthropology to understand the development of laws of property in Western and non-Western cultures and the impact of these cultural systems on the psychological development of a sense of possession across the life span … Summing up: highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.' R. B. Stewart, Jr, Choice

Human possession psychology originates from deeply rooted experiential capacities shared with other animals. However, unlike other animals, we are a uniquely self-conscious species concerned with reputation, and possessions affect our perception of how we exist in the eyes of others. This book discusses the psychology surrounding the ways in which humans experience possession, claim ownership, and share from both a developmental and cross-cultural perspective. Philippe Rochat explores the origins of human possession and its symbolic development across cultures. He proposes that human possession psychology is particularly revealing of human nature, and also the source of our elusive moral sense.

Introduction: making sense of human possession
Part I. Psychology: Principles of Human Possession: 1. Experiencing possession
2. Claiming ownership
3. Possession and ownership transfer
4. Symbolic spinoffs of possession
Part II. Development: Human Ontogeny of Possession: 5. First possession
6. Ownership in development
7. Sharing in development
Part III. Culture: Human Possession in Context: 8. Culture and possession
9. Possession in children across cultures
Conclusion: great transformation.

Subject Areas: Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Psychology [JM], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Anthropology [JHM]