Why Do We Stay Emotionally Connected To Things ?
We like to stay emotionally conected to some items in our lives.
Whether it’s a totally useless item or an absolute lifechanger.
In this article I will be not only mentoning the items, but also feeling such as love, happiness and more.
But what’s the actual main factors of it ?
What can we learn based on the items we have to have in our lives ?
This and more in this short and simple article, enjoy !
To start of we have to name some of the factors, which can influence our attachment.
Let’s start with psychological factors.
Psychological factors are mostly connected to feelings, mostly the positive one’s, but not only.
The attachement theory is something which comes from our caregivers at the earliest stage of our lives.
For instance if we had secure attachments in childhood, we may develop a stronger sense of security and emotional connection to possessions in adulthood.
The next one I like to call emotional regulation.
We see this mostly in kids.
When the kids are scared of something, they like to hug their favourite stuffed animal or cover up with the coziest blanket they have.
This item acts as a source of emotional support, and because of that, it provides a sense of security and calmness.
Last one for psychological factors is called by me personalizer.
The items we like to surround ourselves are helping to shape our self-identity and express our unique personalities.
For example, someone really passionate about music may form emotional connections to their musical instruments, as these items reflect their interests and talents.
Social factors are the next on our list
In here I have only named 2 factors I honestly couldn’t find more in my recent studies, maybe there are some more, so if you find let me know in the comments below.
Anyway the first one is cultural significance.
Our emotional connections to that kind of items would be based on many factors.
You can name such things as flags, religious symbols, family legacy items, historical artifacts and many more.
That kind of connections are more on what we believe, that’s why it can vary very much on where you come from.
Next one, which I don’t especially like is social comparison.
Basically we like to wear what is so called trendy.
We want to be perceived as someone wealthy or associated with status or social acceptance.
I don’t like this factor, because so many people can do such stupid things only to show up as someone wealthy, and they tend to fake their status because of it.
Last one is evolutionary factors
Our brains changed since the time of our first ever ancestors.
Here we can name something such as survival instincts.
Well history has shaped our inclination to form emotional connections to objects that are basically essential for our survival.
For instance, we could develop emotional attachment to food sources, tools, or shelters because they’re essential in our everydayness.
Last one something which might be a little weird, but just let me explain.
This is about mating and reproduction.
The best example for this would be jewelry such as engagement rings which symbolizes commitment and can evoke emotional connections related to partnership.
I hope this make more sense to you now, of course we can name something more like wedding dress, a teddy bear given on valentines day.
Anyway, that will be it for this topic I hope I give some self-awareness to your life by this article.
If you are interested more in psychology and some other topics related to it such as negotiation, manipulation, persuasion or public speaking, you can sign up for my newsletter.
Newsletter here
Remember it’s free and you can always unsubscribe if you don’t need it.