"One psychoanalytical explanation for collecting is that unloved children learn to seek comfort in accumulating belongings;"

"another is that collecting is motivated by existential anxieties – the collection, an extension of our identity, lives on, even though we do not."

"More recently, evolutionary theorists suggested that a collection was a way for a man to attract potential mates by signalling his ability to accumulate resources."

"endowment effect, which describes our tendency to value things more once we own them."

"Humans are unique in the way we collect items purely for the satisfaction of seeking and owning them."