Surprising Science — April 26, 2010

Accumulating Stuff

Hoarders have “a sense of intense responsibility for objects and an unwillingness to waste them,” says Randy Frost. They also have an ability to find beauty in things that other people might not appreciate.

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A new book by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee looks at the psychological reasons why people hoard stuff in their homes, sometimes amassing so much stuff that they can barely move around. Hoarders have “a sense of intense responsibility for objects and an unwillingness to waste them,” says Frost, as well as an “aesthetic quality” of finding beauty or value in things that other people might not appreciate.

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