“This has led some scholars to suggest that collecting is a way of managing fears about death by creating a form of immortality. This is consistent with a popular theory in social psychology called the terror management theory (TMT). TMT grows out of an existential predicament--that people, like animals, are mortal. But unlike animals, we are aware of our own mortality. Knowledge of the inevitability of death and its unpredictability can produce paralyzing fear. To cope with this potential terror, cultures provide beliefs, rituals, and sanctioned strategies for managing it. One of these strategies is the belief that some part of ourselves can live on after we die. Producing or amassing something of value is one way to accomplish this. Thus a collection offers the potential for immortality.”
Quote by Randy O. Frost
Work
Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
“I get the feeling I’ve been waiting for this to start for a really long time.”
Source: Love Is an Algorithm
Source: The Stories of Our Lives: A Short Story Collection
Source: Andrew Carnegie
“God gave us ground we created a city, God gave us time we need to create a future.”
“Considering he came equipped with a mask and dragon, this just might be fun...”
Source: Firestorm
“Maybe winging it with this spy stuff hadn't been such a good idea.”
Source: Firestorm
Source: The Definitions