Stamps of Sanity

One of the most common manifestations of the Ownership & Possession Core Drive is the desire to collect things, such as stamps or baseball cards. Many of us have had the experience of collecting certain items, where the items themselves have relatively low practical functionality but are only meaningful because they represented a piece in a larger set.

Initially, some readers might feel that Core Drive 4 only entails the actions of accumulating more possessions, but it also provides emotional comfort to those who simply dwell upon those possessions. This is like the owners of expensive cars or paintings who spend hours admiring and enjoying their prized possessions without needing to do anything with them. Some people even hide their paintings so no one can steal them, while still enjoying the utility by just knowing that the paintings are in the safe.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath, Gladwell describes a physician at a children’s hospital...