There is a small ritual that often happens between buying a new outfit and actually wearing it: removing the price tag. For some people, it happens almost immediately after getting home. The cardboard tag is cut away, the plastic fastener is pulled off and the garment is placed in the wardrobe as though it has always belonged there. On the surface, this may simply be practical. But psychology offers an intriguing way of understanding the behavior: the removal of the price tag can symbolically separate the product from the marketplace and make it feel more personally owned. Research on psychological ownership suggests that people can develop a subjective feeling that an object is “mine,” and this feeling can emerge through possession, control and personal investment. That does not mean everyone who removes a tag immediately is consciously trying to claim ownership.
Instead, the ritual may coincide with a psychological transition from “something I just purchased” to “something that belongs to me.”
