The secrets to having it all: Three essays on how we develop psychological ownership towards things we don't legally own

Psychological ownership is the feeling of "this belongs to me" that consumers may develop towards an object, idea, space, or organization. Prior research has shown that psychological ownership can be experienced independent of the presence of legal entitlement. In three papers, this dissertation seeks to understand 1) how psychological ownership can be experienced towards another object that consumers do not own merely through physical similarity, and 2) how consumers may experience the feeling of ownership toward another human entity (i.e., a celebrity), and 3) how this "human ownership" may affect people's attitudes and behaviours towards other groups of people (e.g., their children, spouses, employees, and so on) who they generally interact with in their daily life.