Why We Want Things We Don’t Need?
I want to tell you about something called The Diderot Effect to help explain why we want things we don't need.
The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire more new things. As a result, we end up buying things that our previous selves never needed to feel happy or fulfilled.
The effect is named for Denis Diderot, the co-founder and writer of Encyclopédie, who experienced a large windfall of wealth after living nearly his entire life in poverty. Shortly after, Diderot acquired a new scarlet robe. That’s when everything went wrong.
Diderot’s scarlet robe was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he immediately noticed how out of place it seemed when surrounded by the rest of his common possessions. He soon felt the urge to buy some new things to match the beauty of his robe.
He replaced his old rug with a new one from Damascus. He decorated his home with beautiful sculptures and a better kitchen table. He bought a new mirror to place above the mantle and his “straw chair was relegated to the antechamber by a leather chair.”
These reactive purchases have become known as the Diderot Effect.
You can spot similar behaviors in many other areas of life:
- You buy a new dress and now you have to get shoes and earrings to match.
- You buy a CrossFit membership and soon you’re paying for foam rollers, knee sleeves, wrist wraps,
and
paleo meal plans.
- You buy your kid an American Girl doll and find yourself purchasing more accessories than you ever
knew existed for dolls.
- You buy a new couch and suddenly you’re questioning the layout of your entire living room. Those
chairs? That coffee table? That rug? They all gotta go.
Life has a natural tendency to become filled with more. We are rarely looking to downgrade, to simplify, to eliminate, to reduce. Our natural inclination is always to accumulate, to add, to upgrade, and to build upon.