Identity, Consistency, and Commitments
Another interesting effect of Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession is that it also drives us to value our own identities and become more consistent towards our past. After all, there are rarely things we hold more closely than our values, characters, and past commitments111.
In fact, science has shown that the longer we live, the more attached we become to our existing beliefs, preferences, methodologies, and even our own names.112
A surprising study conducted by social psychologist Brett Pelham revealed that people are much more likely to choose careers that sound similar to their own names113. To test this idea, Pelham looked up names that sounded like the word “dentist,” such as Dennis. According to the census data, the name Dennis was the 40th most common male first name in the U.S., while Jerry and Walter were the 39th and 41st, respectively.
Pelham then searched the national directory of the American Dental Association...