315. The psychology of trinket collecting

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Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through some of the big life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever you are in the world, it is so great to have you here. Back for another episode as we, of course break down the psychology of our twenties today. I am absolutely buzzing to dive into a topic that I think has seemingly exploded out of nowhere, yet when you really like take some time to look into it has kind of always been part of humanity in one form or another. We're talking about trinket culture, and you might be raising your eyebrows thinking trinkets, like you're gonna do a whole entire episode on tiny little decorative objects.

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Speaker 2: And I get it. Not everyone will like them, not everyone collects them, that's totally fine, but they are undeniably a really big deal at the moment, a big part of the current culture. I'm sure you've seen these unboxing videos or adorable figurines and la booboos. Maybe you've even got a little special shelf at home, meticulously dedicated to a collection of utterly non functional items that just simply make you smile. You know, love them or hate them. It is highly likely that you have been exposed to some kind of trinket doing the rounds online or in real life. It is a widespread, almost cult like obsession that we're seeing these days, the psychology of which is so fascinating and only just beginning to be talked about. And I have to admit I myself am a trinket collector. If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that not only do I have a stupid amount of Sunny Angels, like four hundred in county at this point, but I also have like a huge collection of mugs and toys and decorative things that I've picked up from the time I was a child, like displayed all throughout my house. You know, when I was a kid, I collected Beanie babies. Then it was kinderregg toys. Now it's key chains and sunny angels, whatever it is. And so, as a member of the trinket collector society, I am really fascinated by what it is about these things that attract us to them, is there a certain kind of personality that is more drawn to it than another where And what does our kind of collective infatuation with the boo boos and miffy and sunny angels and jelly cats really say about us as a society and even even about the kind of economic times that we're living in. So that is precisely what we are going to unravel today, the psychology of trinket culture. This topic is so much more than a passing fad. As we get further into it, you're gonna be shocked at how much this, you know, kind of obscure topic really has to say about our minds as humans, about our economy, about our identity, about how we relate to other people. Like who knew you could go so deep when talking about key chains and fluffy animals and tiny baby dolls. But turns out it is a lot deeper than you may initially imagine. So, my lovely listeners, strap in for a kind of wacky, kind of different conversation, but one that is like chock full with science. Surprisingly, let's talk about the psychology of trinket culture. Stay with us. So let's start with the biggest question to begin with, where the heck has this all come from? How did something as seemingly niche as collecting small figures go from a hobby for just a select few, something people even thought of as kind of weird, to literally being everywhere, to being part of a celebrity culture to being part of the literal economy. Maybe unsurprisingly, a huge part of it recently, and probably the main driver lies squarely with our digital landscape, especially platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest. These platforms are perfect for short lived esthetic trends like ballet core, tomato girl, summer cottage core. We've seen them come up and down for years. Ever since, like TikTok and Instagram really hit their like high point trends have been a part of that, and things like trinket whole video or unboxing experiences or trinket shelf tours that are racking up millions of views. It is, in some ways just another trend, and this kind of content is also really engaging. It creates a lot of desirability, there's a lot of buzz around it. There's a much deeper part to our culture that it's become quite obsessive with this level of consumption and also like displays of just like excess, like someone having all of these things and being able to watch them and like live this, like cool life through their eyes is really really appealing. You see it, you want it, and before you know it, you know you're not just a passive observer like you are part of the movement, you are part of the business model. Take Popmark for instance. PopMart has been everywhere. They are the powerhouse behind the Booboo figures, I guess, the little booboo toys. The reason they became so successful is because they marketed themselves so well, especially through social media, and especially through their packaging, especially through their entire business model of blind boxes, not knowing what you're gonna get. Popmark shops are like consistently selling out in London, in America, in Australia, literally anywhere you can name a city in a country, you will find a labuoboo. And this isn't just a toy for children. It's a legitimate, like cultural touchstone. There's even Labubu keychains. You know, at London Fashion Week, some of these things sell for like thousands of dollars. It's like a craze has taken over and something that was meant to be cute has turned into kind of like a status symbol in a way. You know, individually, these items are kind of seemingly like semi affordable niceties. They're like a special treat. If you buy one, you know, a sunny Angel figurine, for example in Australia, that's gonna cost you like maybe seventeen to twenty dollars. That's you know, a lot of money, but also not a lot of money, Like that's how much you would spend on a nice light on lunch, you know what I mean. But here's the kick up. They're a small purchase, but they accumulate fast, especially when you're on a quest to complete a full set, or you know there's this latest drop that you just have to have, or there's a rare item that you want to keep buying boxes in order to get behind the cuteness of this all is a business model that is capitalizing on our desire to accumulate more and more and more. Each new release taps into the psychology of scarcity and completionism. There's limited editions, then there's mystery boxes and the thrill of getting the one you secretly wanted all along really plays into your impulse to keep collecting. So it's not just about owning a figurine, and it's not just about owning the toy. That's something that I think people sometimes don't understand. It's about the feeling of anticipation. It's about even being able to get your hands on one in the first place. It's the rush of the unboxing and the sense of belonging to a community that kind of gets it. And so the cycle continues. A tiny figurine becomes like this tiny obsession, and the dollar value on that business model is insane, Like it is a highly lucrative industry. Let's focus back in on PopMart again. Their company valuation has completely skyrocketed. In twenty twenty four, their like valuation, how much they were worth, how much money they made, was sixty point four five billion dollars B billion, not M billion, like billion. I let's just think about that for a moment, Like that is actually more than and I looked this up, more than the combined valuations of mattel So literally the creator of Barbie hot wheels. It's more than the combined that combined with the creators of NERF gun my little pony transformers, Hello kitty. You could add up how much each of those businesses was worth, and all added up would it would not even scratch the surface of how much PopMart is worth. That says everything about how seriously this little niche thing is being taken so other than the fact, as we previously mentioned, why do we fall so hard for trinkets beyond just wanting more things? Beyond just consumerism? Firstly, I think in a world of traditional luxury goods, you know, designer handbags, high end cars, exotic vacations, a lot of those things remain largely out of reach for us. But trinkets have emerged as these like surprisingly potent and incredibly affordable status symbols. They offer a very clever way for us to signal our identity and our taste and our kind of in the no status without having to totally break the bank. Which is why I think for people in their late teens and in their twenties, there's such a pull. Their primary power kind of lies and their accessibility. Unlike really expensive luxury items, most trinkets are relatively inexpensive, so it makes them accessible to a demographic who definitely wants to show that they have their lives together or that they have their finances together, but can't necessarily go after the traditional indicators of wealth. When you see, you know, global stylik ons like Rihanna and do a leaper, or Kylie Jenner, or even like David Beckham like sporting a la booboo, it just kind of amplifies this perception that this is something that someone who is in the know has, This is something that someone who's cool or who has wealth or status has. And it's the same reason why companies put celebrities as the face of perfumes, cars, drinks, fashion brands, because they know we are more likely to buy something if we see someone we admire doing it first, because we think I can be more like them. You know, I might not be rich or famous, but I can dress or smell like a rich and famous person. I can have the collectible on my bag that a rich and famous person has. You know, humans, we are at our core deeply social creatures. We have this inherent drive to connect and to belong and these trinkets are incredibly powerful at fostering a sense of in group belonging and really solidifying our social identity and what we want to communicate to the world. They tap directly into our fundamental need for connection and acceptance. And if you think that that sounds crazy, let me explain a little bit of the psychology behind this. When you start collecting specific types of trinkets, not only does it seemingly align you with other people who see value in that item, maybe like a celebrity, it also almost automatically leads to the formation of communities both online and in real life. There are entire Facebook groups for people who collect, you know, rare littlest pet shops, the same way that there are entire Facebook groups for people who collect stamps or car parts, and in those groups you will find people with the same interests, the same knowledge set, the same obsession as you. And that's kind of really fun to lean into. So, according to social identity theory, we really derive a lot of our self esteem from group membership, and you don't have to actively participate in a group like a Facebook group to still feel like you belong somewhere. Collecting and displaying trinkets, it reinforces a connection that you have with a certain type of person, whether it's a sunny angel, whether it's whatever. It is by actively like participating in trinket culture, you're basically saying, I'm part of this group. I'm part of this group who spends money on this thing, who uses this as a status symbol, but also maybe part of a group of people who have a lot of whimsy and who really value like childlike w and who are really creative, you know whatever. It is. What this really fosters is what we call collective effervescence. So a shared kind of sense of energy and enthusiasm that is generated by communal participation. Isn't that such a beautiful term as well? Collective effervescence, And it's also something that you can feel. Yes, you're gonna go out and buy the trink it yourself, but then you might see someone else with the trinket on their bag and you immediately feel like a pool towards them, or you might be in line waiting for like a rare I don't know, la boobo drop and you're like, oh, I feel like I'm aligned with these people, and you can talk to them about it, and it's something that you can share with your friends and you can connect with people online about that feeling is the same feeling that people in a stadium feel when they're rooting for the same team, or it's the same buzz that you get at a concert for your favorite artist or at a trade show. Have found a way to capture this effervestance in so many forms, and trinket culture is just another form of that, even if people think it's childish. The same human desire that causes us to want to be part of any group or want to be in the know also causes us to sometimes become a collector. Beyond social identity, we also have our self identity, and trinkets are kind of like a nonverbal form of self expression. You know, if you have a certain anime figuring on your desk, like, that's not just decoration. It tells a story about your interests. It says something about who you are and what you love and how you see the world. You know, a particular trinket might represent that you are playful, or that you love a specific subculture, or that there's a specific lifestyle that you feel drawn to achieve. The items we own do become part of what psychologists call our extended self, so basically how we think about ourselves as not just like the voice in our head, but the physical things around us. So yes, our extended self is part isn't part made up by our relationships. It's made up in part by our environment. It's made up in part by what we read, what we listen to, and also what we own and what we choose to decorate our lives with. This is one of the biggest straws of this all, Like it really is this capacity to indicate to others who you are as a person. But while trinkets are often self expression, I would say that's what I think they are. I think they're self expression, they also reveal how identity can really be commodified and how authenticity can be commodified. So we're going to talk about the intersection of trinkets, psychology, and also the big CEA capitalism. After this shortbreak, stay with us. So I am going to say something bold here. As a long time trinket collector myself, I think the good old days of collecting trinkets that were important to you and only you kind of gone, you know, I've just got to say it. Previously, our homes were filled with things that we had collected over the years, from travel, from birthdays, from adventures, and this entire collection, Like, yes, maybe someone else had one or two things similar to you, but it was very unique. It was a postcard from here, it was a special stone from this speech, a collection of mugs from all over. Each person had a different set of things. Nowadays, instead of like carefully curating objects that reflect who you are, were often sold kind of prepackaged esthetic starter kits. And it raises the question with trinkets these days, are we really expressing ourselves or are we just buying into a marketable persona. And you know, a bigger question is if everyone has something how genuine and authentic and how much of a form of self expression can it really be if everyone is expressing the same thing. Critics of consumer culture might argue that authenticity in this day and age itself has become a marketable commodity. Brands are very quick to leverage the idea that a certain person would own this product and another kind of person would buy this kind of thing, So they really sell you the idea that if you are this particular individual, you should buy this candle, or you should wear this jacket, or this trinket is somehow for you and it will allow you to be more like yourself. It will allow you to be more not just like yourself, but like the other kind of people who own this kind of thing. In doing so, our identities really get tied up in what we own, what we wear, what we display, and it turns consumption into a form of personal branding. What's even more complain I think, is how consumer culture kind of disguises these decisions as empowerment. You know, the language of choice and freedom is everywhere when it comes to buying things, things like treat yourself, you deserve it, express who you are. It masks a system that kind of thrives on needing to buy our identity rather than express it through our character. We are subtly encouraged to seek emotional fulfillment in material things, only to kind of find out eventually that that satisfaction is very fleeting, and we need to fill that whole with something else the next day, the next day, the next week. So and you drop a fresh aesthetic, it will quickly replace the last thing, keeping us in this constant loop of yearning and also crucially, of spending. It's not that consumption is inherently bad, but when it's framed as a way to I guess have meaning in life or as a way to express your identity. It becomes a very hollow solution to a much deeper need for connection and purpose and belonging. And I know I'm sounding rather pessimistic. I do also believe that there's something majorly joyful and special to this habit other than just like what some people would call naive consumer behavior. And one way that I think it is really I don't know beneficial is the right world word, but like really joyful and I don't know, unthreatening, is that collecting these little objects can be a real beautiful way to connect with parts of you that you've kind of hidden, specifically, you know, expressions about inner child. It's a way to feel young and childlike again in our very stressful adult lives. Consciously reconnecting with the parts of you that feel innocent and soft and playful, you know, that can be incredibly like. It can be an incredibly power for active self care and even of emotional regulation, letting yourself feel safe and cared for by being the one who creates that kind of whimsical environment. And trinkets, you know, really play into that whimsical aesthetic. They might actually be very potent bridges to this connection between who you are now and some of the sensations and feelings that you had as a kid. Trinkets have an amazing ability to evoke childhood memories. You know, getting a jelly cat, getting whatever it is, it might transport you back to the sheer excitement of getting a new toy as a kid, or the thrill of collecting something that you really coveted or being spoiled. It might also feel like you were able to give yourself something you never received when you were younger. And we're not just talking about a physical toy, but love comfort. Again, someone's spoiling you. So this fulfillment or I guess reexperiencing a positive childhood emotion and also positive childhood emotions that come from something so simple and non threatening is like a fluffy toy. It's deeply comforting and really affirming when everything else in life is very serious and very dangerous and very disheartening. You know, this is a tangible connection and a link to a time that is often perceived there's a lot simpler, a lot safer, and filled with a lot of like, you know, just unbridled joy. We can also kind of understand this connection through the lens of what psychologists call transitional objects. So this was a term coined in the nineteen fifties by the British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. We talk about him a lot on the podcast actually and basically he I don't think he discovered this, but he he basically talks a lot about transitional objects, something like a security blanket or a teddy bear that served as a really crucial role in early childhood development as a way to help a child cope with separation from their primary caregiver. If you cast your mind like way back to like your first day of kindergarten or your first day of school, you might remember that, you know, you probably brought a toy to class. That's something that a lot of early year teachers will recommend that, like when children are first leaving their parents and spending a lot of time alone without them and their comfort, to bring an object or a toy that reminds them of the comfort they experience, you know from a caregiver. It's like this tangible thing that represents someone's presence or a particular emotion when the person who normally creates that emotion is absent. This is going to sound ridiculous, but there has evidence to support that adults still kind of want these comfort objects, and they still want these transitional toys. Basically, you know, certain trinkets can serve a similar psychological function or purpose. They become miniature security blankets or comfort items that help us really navigate the anxieties and complexities of adult life. I know this sounds bizarre, but they can actually offer a real sense of consistency and safety and familiarity when the rest of the world feels overwhelming. I for one, It's gonna sound strange, but anytime I get on a plane, I always bring one of my little cherub figurines one of my Sonny angels with me. Like, whenever I travel, I always have one in my bag because I have such a you know, fear of flying. It's if I'm really like freaking out. It's kind of this weirdly anchoring force for me, which sounds ridiculous, but they just bring me so much joy. It's hard not to feel okay when I have one in my bag. And also there's this weird psychological sense of like, ah, can't be that bad, it can't be that scary if I have like a little naked in a costume in my pocket, that sounds really weird. If you don't know what these are, like, just google them and it will make sense. But yeah, it's just like, oh, how serious can this situation really be? If I have this little figuring thing, it's like this weird thing to pull you out of a moment where you're getting too stressed. You know. Also, adulthood just demands a lot of seriousness, and it demands a lot of responsibility, and unfortunately, sometimes that comes with the suppression of spontaneous play and laughter and being silly and goofy and just stupid. And trinkets, by their very nature are often non functional, like their primary purpose is simply enjoyment and esthetic pleasure and to be fun. I don't see the bad thing in that. I think that's something that actually a lot of adults could do with. I think it would really help us. I don't know, take things a little bit less seriously. That's probably the best way I can put it, you know, engaging with them. I think it just really reintroduces a vital element of of playful lightness into our adult lives. And here is when we finally arrived to something that we've been kind of circling for most of this episode, which is incredibly important in this discussion, which is the power of nostalgia. The power of nostalgia is hard at work in really being the backbone of this industry collecting trinkets and small toys. Like it's not a new concept. I think most of us used to have something that we collected as a child. For me, it was beanie babies. It was like literally everything. Do you remember those pop figurings as well. Some people used to collect those. Even if you collected stickers like that, everyone had something, and brands realize what an emotional pool it can be if they create something that reminds us of something from the past, because this thing from the past feels comforting. Let's like take beanie babies as an example, because I feel like everyone knows what a beanie baby is. Beanie babies had this like very unique bean field kind of texture, and they had these quirky little names, and they were incredibly cute and they were appealing. They were also kind of creepy, and they were kind of like a medium sized toy. I don't think it's crazy to say that there is a kind of a lot of similarities between jelly cats and Beanie Babies, and also between things like La Booboos and Beanie Babies and any number of soft blind box collectibles. Like it's very obvious to me that these brands are just being like cool. If we can activate a similar feeling to one that people had in the past around collecting something cute and fluffy that feels the same and kind of looks the same in weird ways, we can make a heck ton of money. In essence, I think that a lot of these toys are like the beanie Babies of the digital age. They are skillfully leveraging very similar psychological hooks like cuteness, scarcity, even like investment potential. But it's been amplified by this like the instant global reach and highly visual nature of modern social media. It's just history repeating itself, but with a much faster Internet connection. And there's also this like perceived throwback to the good old days, Like these things are very grounding and they feel very familiar. They have a very whimsical nature. It's really evoking like a bygone error, and these trinkets are carefully crafted to deliver that very warm, fuzzy emotional connection to our past. They're trying to provide psychological comfort, even if they're fresh off the production line, And ultimately, nostalgia transforms purchasing from I guess, a purely functional or rational decision into a deeply emotional one. We reward ourselves with a nostalgic because it puts us in a positive mood, or it helps us preserve a very simple, nice feeling of connection to the past. All the stuff that we read about in textbooks when it comes to consumer decisions and the use of nostalgia and emotional hooks, and even like decisions when it comes to the texture and the feel and the size of an object, and all these things, like the cuteness of an object, all that stuff has been carefully crafted these days, Like there are studies on what kind of faces people think are more cute and what kind of textures or fabrics people find more comforting. And it's like they've taken all this information that we've known for a long time and all this psychology around what drives people to buy, and they've created like the perfect item, the perfect thing that we all want. Let's shift gears and let's really like, I think it's time to talk about the economy. I think it's time to really like I've been circling around it, it's time to talk about the money behind this and whether or not something like the booboos are in fact a recession indicator. So this basically started as like a joke on TikTok, and it has now spawned articles in the Australian Financial Review, in Vogue, in CNN, across countless blogs that the rise of collectibles and of collecting is a sign that the economy is about to freakin' tank. If we really dive deeper into what's driving this recent surge and drinket culture, we can kind of develop a better understanding of why people and economists are like maybe thinking this way. We know that the main proportion of these engaged consumers in these trends primarily Gen Z and younger millennials, and this is the same generation that is facing very unique economic realities compared to their predecessors. I saw this really fascinating video from an amaz creator and a brand strategy consultant. I guess he is on TikTok, sime as Eugene Heally, and he articulated this trend so perfectly. He basically discusses how, unlike previous generations, many young adults are finding themselves increasingly locked out of traditional markers of adult success, most notably home ownership. This is not new to us. I think everyone who is in their twenties understands this. These days, only around twenty three percent of people in their twenties are from twenty to twenty nine own a home, compared to forty percent of boomers at the same age that we are. Like, everyone knows, house prizes outpacing wage growth, there's not enough houses. Mortgage rates are ridiculous. Whilst you know, some people have found a way to enter the market, often with family assistance or by compromising on location or on significant parts of their life. Most people seventy seven percent of people in their twenties feel that home ownership is a very distant, if not impossible dream. So when big traditional aspirations like owning a home become unattainable, which I think is a sign that our economy isn't working. If people literally can't afford shelter and the security of a home, what do people channel their desire for stability and personal expression and a sense of accomplishment into often its more accessible forms of consumption clothes, travel, cars, also trinkets. Basically, you know, this generation, we may be locked out of the property market, but we feel very locked into this accessible delight of collecting. The idea that small, relatively inexpensive luxury items tend to surge during economic downturns is actually known as the lipstick effect or lipstick economy theory, and it was popularized by someone called Leonard Lauder. Does that las name sound familiar? Lrder I E S Day Lader one of the biggest beauty brands in the world. They own so many like smaller makeup companies. This guy, lened Later, the chairman of es Day Later, basically observed a spike in lipstick sales after the nine eleven terrorist attacks and also during the early two thousands recession, and he basically said, when we are faced with economic uncertainty and tightening budgets and less money to spend overall on big things, we might go without larger, more significant purchases, but we still crave a sense of indulgence and a psychological pick me up. Lipstick. You know, that was the example he was working off of is accessible, and it's an affordable luxury, and it's small, so it becomes the chosen form of indulgence when larger forms of indulgence are just out of reach. Just like that high end lipstick. Brinkets offer a little feeling of luxury and instant gratification without requiring the significant financial commitment of a big ticket item. And this perfectly aligns with what we know as little tree culture, where consumers consciously opt for, you know, small, little frequent indulgences as a way to boost their mood rather than larger splurges that are out of reach. You know, even in the midst of economic uncertainty and global uncertainty and maybe even a recession, we still want a sense of normalcy and we still want we still want a sense of joy and happiness. And basically that is what trinkets and la booboos and jellycats and sunny angels and whatever else there is are a sign of. They are a sign of these companies coming to fill a gap in our economy. So with that bleak kind of picture in mind, we are going to take another short break. But when you return, we're going to talk about something a little bit different, which is the role of dopamine, the role of impulse buys, and whether we can call this behavior addictive. Stay with us, Okay, we are back and we are talking about trinkets. I think that whilst you know, collecting trinkets is very fun and it's joyful and it's kind of harmless most of the time, by their very design and how they are being designed currently, they're often perfectly primed for impulse purchases and over consumption, so they have this relatively low price point right. They're also very very cute, and these days they're presented in blind boxes, so you don't really know what you're going to get. It's kind of like gambling, which we're going to talk about a little bit later. But all of these things combine and create this immediate urge to buy on the spot. The instant kind of dopamine hit associated with buying these figures often overrides rational financeial future planning. If not done cautiously, it can lead to a very habitual and frequent overspending over something that you know, as much as it's cute, we don't really need. I also think that the sheer ease of online shopping these days, and one click purchasing effectively even further removes the friction that might otherwise allow for kind of like a second thought and a second thought of like do I need this. Social media also has a really critical role to play in this kind of like competitive consumerism. Seeing perfectly curated collections rare fines massive whole holes people who you admire online Having this thing often creates intense pressure to acquire more, to have the best collection, or simply to kind of just like keep pace with other people. And this can really tragically push people to spend well above their means, and it's driven by social comparison more than genuine desire. Because of this comparison and a fear of missing out on the latest and greatest item that shows that you're in a in the know, it's really not a surprise that people get emotionally invested in whether they manage to actually get the item. It's not just about having as many as possible, it's about just having one or two to show that you're part of the group. This can lead to even more impulse spending, like something that you didn't budget for, something that you didn't account for that you have to constantly buy the new trending item to feel like you fit in, and you might simply follow this urge again because you don't want to miss out. Behind the scenes as well, this is called scarcity marketing, and it is working over time on nearly all of us. Have you noticed that when something is trending, it's a lot harder to get Think like the road lipsticks, think the La Booboos, think any number of trending products. There, there's a period where you cannot get your hands on that thing. That is not by accident. It's not because these companies didn't know how much people would want their product. It's because when they first launch something, they make it so that it is scarce so that people want it more, which creates huge future demand and an ever present sense of urgency to buy. Bye by when you got the opportunity that may have otherwise not been there. Something you guys may actually not know is that I actually have an economics degree. Just going to throw that out there, but I studied economics at UNI alongside studying psychology, and this is a really basic principle that they teach you in like microeconomics one oh one, which is basically that when the demand is more than their supply, people will pay more for something, and so when you deliberately reduce or limit supply, it is a way to control prices and to control the market and to control consumer behavior in the most simplest way, think about the cost of oranges on you know, at your local grocery store versus on an island. So at your local grocery store they have to charge somewhere near the market price for an orange or for milk, because if they don't, you can go to another grocery store and you'll find it for cheaper. But when, for example, you're on an island and there's less oranges and there's not as many places that you can go to get an item, you will easily pay more for that thing. You'll pay more because firstly, there's not other places that you can get it, but also because you see that item is more scarce and you see it as more valuable. So basically, a lot of companies these days are taking that lack of availability and the exclusivity of their items and using that to drive an even higher desire to own something that they that they make. So basically they're deliberately creating things like limited collections or super rare items, or deliberately only doing limited drops so that when the time comes, they can not only sell them for a much higher price than what they're worth, but they also know they will always have people in line waiting to buy them. It's also why when, for example, a new collection drops, or when something suddenly becomes available, people start hoarding. I saw this video the other day of you know whatever, like a pop mart vending machine and some guy at the very front buying out, buying like twenty No one needs twenty. You don't need twenty, Like that's ridiculous, It's like what But because you know that you can resell them because the perceived value of them is higher. They know that someone isn't just going to buy one and be satisfied. They're going to buy a lot of them because the demand is higher than the supply. So this drive to buy more, right, it seems very very powerful, especially with collectibles, like that's the whole point. They are something you collect, you gain more of them because of that. Could we call this habit addictive? It's a complex question, but the short answer is yes. Certain aspects, particularly with blind boxes and the relentless pursuit of rare items can absolutely tap into established addictive psychological mechanisms. You can become addicted to gaining access to this thing, or buying more and more and more of more blind boxes, more trinket items, having as many as you possibly can get your hands on. At the heart of it lies our brains, dopamine and reward systems. Dopamine. We know that it's a very powerful neurotransmitter. It is released when we experience something pleasurable, exciting, or rewarding, or something we have been anticipating. This is what economists actually call the dopamine economy, and in the context of trinkets, this dopamine rush occurs at several key moments. It occurs before you get your hands on something and you're questioning, am I going to get one? Am I not? There's anticipation. It occurs when you make the purchase and you have it. It occurs when you open the box. It occurs when you find maybe a rare item. It occurs when you complete a set. It occurs when you go back for more. This surge of dopamine powerfully reinforces the behavior, and your brain quickly learns that this action of buying or unboxing equals pleasure, leading to a strong, ingrained desire to continue to repeat that action. This is the core of what we call operant conditioning. Behaviors followed by a satisfying consequence are more likely to be repeated. So this leads us to kind of a second, second fascinating question. Not only a blind boxers addictive, but are they simply just another form of gambling? Is that why we get so hooked on them? There are absolutely parallels between blind boxes and the pokey's or slot gambling, or whatever kind of gambling you may be thinking of, especially concerning the underlying mechanisms that drive engagement, which is the idea of intermittent reinforcement. So let me explain this. Basically, In classic gambling, you never know if your next bet is gonna win, but the possibility of a payout keeps you playing. In blind boxes, you don't know which specific figure you're gonna get, but the possibility of obtaining a rare one or a highly desired item keeps you buying them. This fundamental principle creates a highly persistent and compelling behavioral loop. The element of uncertainty and the anticipation is central to both gambling and blind boxes. Like the thrilling anticipation of opening a blind box is much like the anticipate you have before pulling the leather on a slot machine. It generates immediate excitement, anticipation, and a rush of dopamine. The unknown outcome is precisely what is making this experience so alluring. There's also the inherent financial risk involved. Albeit you know it's definitely on a smaller scale with blind boxes than traditional gambling, but you never know you are spending money for an uncertain outcome. I remember trying to explain this to my mum and she was like, what do you mean you don't know which one you get? She's like, that's ridiculous. Imagine going to a movie and not knowing what movie you're you're going to get tickets to, and just hoping it was the one that you wanted to go to. She's like, no other, no other industry works that way. The way I described it to her was like, yes, you could end up with something that you don't particularly want, but you could also end up with something really good and really desirable, and you could also end up with one that isn't worth a lot of money, and you can resell it and then you can buy more, and it's this whole cycle. The frustration you know, of getting multiple duds or of duplicate figures as well. That's also has a gambling term. It's called chasing losses, continuously buying more boxes or continuously gambling with the hope that you're finally going to win. The thing is is that actually you would think that these losses told like, you know, kind of redirected someone and told them to stop. But the more you sink into something, the more you sink into the slot machines, the more you sink into the blind boxes, the more you then definitely need a win because otherwise you've lost all that money for nothing. So it's not explicitly gambling, but there have been some arguments that things like blind boxes do actually introduce young people in particular to these gambling like mechanisms at a really early age. So if you're a parent, or if you're a consumer, like you might not know this and you're just like, oh, it's a harmless toy. It's just like this cute little fluffy thing. I'll give my kids some money, and then I'll give them some more money. And then suddenly they need more money. You might not realize that actually the psychological conditioning that is happening behind the scenes is rooted in again intermittent reinforcement, rooted in the same mechanisms that create gambling addicts, and that could have the potential to normalize or even prime individuals for future gambling behaviors where the stakes are much higher. Research and developmental psychology highlights how sensitive children and teenagers are to these kinds of reinforcement schedules, and it means that they are more vulnerable to such conditioning. There was a twenty twenty one study conducted here in Australia in New South Wales, the state I live in, that actually found that at least in the short term, young girls and adolescent girls who bought or sold online kind of loop boxes or blind boxes actually demonstrated more positive attitudes towards gambling. They were more likely to want to gamble in a more high stake setting compared to those who didn't behave in these early or didn't engage in these early kind of trade sell behaviors. And it just shows how malleable young people are to these things, and the extra layer of course we might need when encouraging this kind of uncertain buying behavior, And it's really important to have this conversation. It's really important to say, you know, this industry is, at the end of the day, not just based on making you happy. Like people aren't creating buying boxes like PopMart and all these companies aren't creating this because they just want you to have fun. They're creating this, and they're doing this deliberately because they know that they can make a crap ton of money if they leverage these psychological insights. The same way that social media has been designed to be addictive, and social media platforms have literal neuroscientists on their team to keep you hooked, these companies have neuroscientists on their team to keep you buying. So it's just important to add that into the conversation. It's also important as well to understand that collecting and trinkets as a hobby, it's not all the time always going to be dangerous. There are many ways that it can play out that is just really enjoyable and completely harmless. So I don't want to like completely pathologize and scorn this hobby. There's this hobby that I have, and I don't particularly think that I'm addicted, and for me, it's always been a source of joy. Millions upon millions of people worldwide collect various items. They collect stamps, they collect coins, they collect action figures, they collect art, designer toys, whatever it is, and a lot of them, the majority of them, don't develop a problematic addiction, and they don't spend more than their means. So for most of us, this activity is just a genuine source of pleasure. It's a creative outlet, it's a means of social expression, personal expression. It's just a fulfilling, harmless hobby. And I think that finishing on that context is important because the pursuit of joy, which is what this is really all about, is definitely a fundamental human need. If a small, well considered purchase of a trinket genuinely brings a smile to your face, genuinely makes you feel joyful and happy and childlike and peaceful, there's immense value in that. You know, we are not robots designed solely for productivity and efficiency. Like our emotional wellbeing is critical and it's an irreplaceable component of a truly of a truly fulfilling life. So if this thing brings you joy, sometimes it might not be worth examining it any deeper than that. Sometimes it's okay to just engage in it and not feel shame and not feel like you're being manipulated. It is still just a real, simple, the simple like pathway to happiness. And yes, some people would argue that buying happiness or having to buy things to make you happy is inherently wrong or bad, but it is also just kind of the world we live in. Everything costs money these days, as long as you are being healthy about it, and that you're also seeking out happiness and purpose and fulfillment beyond just financial transactions and the act of buying something. I think you're I think you're okay. I think that trinket collecting is not is not the devil for you, and is not a huge, terrible evil like I do it. I know that perhaps there are systems at play that have gotten me into this, but I also know that I've been doing this since I was a kid, and I also know I've been doing it with things that I just collected out in nature, like rocks and flowers and you know, insects, back when I was a kid. So I know this is kind of part of who I am, and so yeah, I don't necessarily feel terrible about it, and I don't think you should either. Just be conscious of the industry, just be conscious of the space that this exists in, and I'm gonna say, like the most corny thing but makes smart decisions and you'll be all right. I hope that you really enjoyed this episode. I hope that you learn a lot. I hope that it's caused you to think and have interesting conversations with your friends. Maybe you can send this to a friend who themselves has a real fascination with trinket collecting, has a big sunny angel collection, has been really leaning into the lu bubu trend. Hopefully they enjoy it as much as you do. Leave a comment down below if you collect something and want to know what people collect, even if it was something that you collected as a child, just to see how far this habit and this behavior goes. I think it's so endlessly fascinating. Also, make sure that you are following me on Instagram at that psychology podcast and follow along here as well. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, make sure you're subscribed so that you know when new episodes are being released, and leave us a five star review if you feel cool to do so. But with that in mind, thank you again for joining us. Be safe, be kind, be gentle to yourself, enjoy a small try get every now and again, and we will talk very very soon. M