ASSOCIATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR OWNERSHIP

As noted by legal scholars (e.g., Saks, 1986), little research has bee n conducted on the psychology of ownership decision making. The presen t research examined this issue within a psychological framework which showed that an individual's judgments about a target can be affected b y the presence of an association between the target and another entity . In three experiments, subjects were asked to resolve a dispute betwe en two parties over possession of an object. In Study 1, subjects judg ed that the person pictured with an object had a stronger claim of own ership over it. Study 2 showed that prior use was a justification for ownership and that past investment in an object (in terms of working w ith it) was a justification for ownership, a finding replicated in the third study. In Study 3, the intentions of the disputants affected th e strength of their perceived claim of ownership.