The Origins and Early Development of Possessive Behavior

Possessive attitudes and behaviors are an important constituent in political life. This paper discusses the nature of possession-related behavior, with an emphasis on its developmental origins in early childhood. Possession is analyzed in relation to two basic components: (1) effectance or competence motivation, and (2) a sense of self associated with personal possessions. The empirical work upon which this discussion is based consists of (1) an interview study with 270 American, Israeli kibbutz, and Israeli city children and adults, and (2) observational studies of early peer interaction. It is argued that the origins of possession are found in universal motivational characteristics of young children (effectance motivation in conjunction with suddenly increasing mobility in the second year of life), in interaction with equally universal structural characteristics of their surrounding environments (older children and adults' efforts to protect certain objects from damage and destruction). With development, however, the control of objects becomes an important aspect of dominance and power relations in early childhood, and socialization with respect to possessions is viewed as an important component of political socialization.