Psychology
Loss Aversion and the Endowment Effect
Quick fact
In a classic experiment, students given a coffee mug demanded a median price of $5.25 to sell it, but students without the mug were only willing to pay a median of $2.25 for it—over twice as much, purely because they owned it.
Why this is interesting
Why do we demand far more to give up something we own than we would be willing to pay to get it in the first place?