Psychology says people who touch products before buying them may process ownership differently

Walking through a store, some shoppers look at a product and immediately know whether they want it, while others need to pick it up, squeeze it, turn it around or run their fingers across the material before making a decision. Someone buying a sweater may rub the fabric between their fingers, a furniture shopper may sit on a chair, and a person choosing a phone may hold it to judge its weight and feel. At first, this may seem like ordinary product evaluation. But consumer psychology suggests that touch can do something more than provide information about texture, weight or quality. Physical contact can also influence how connected people feel to an object. Research on haptic perception, psychological ownership and the endowment effect suggests that touching a product may sometimes make it feel psychologically closer to being “mine,” even before the purchase has actually happened.

Psychology Says Touch Provides Information the Eyes Cannot

Psychologists Joann Peck and Terry L. Childers have studied the role of haptic information, meaning information acquired through touch. Their research found that touch can be particularly important when consumers are evaluating properties such as texture, hardness, temperature and weight.



This explains why someone might inspect a jacket online but still want to touch it in a store.

A photograph can show the color and shape of a sweater, but it cannot fully communicate whether the fabric feels soft, rough, heavy or lightweight. Similarly, a chair may look comfortable in a photograph but feel completely different when someone actually sits on it.

Touch therefore becomes another source of evidence. For some shoppers, this sensory information increases confidence because they can physically test what they are considering rather than relying entirely on descriptions or appearances.

The Mere-Touch Effect May Make Products Feel More Like Ours

The more surprising finding comes from research by Peck and Suzanne B. Shu on the mere-touch effect. Their 2009 study found that simply touching an object could increase people's perceived ownership of it. The researchers also found that perceived ownership could influence how people valued an object.

In other words, the psychological sequence may sometimes look like this: I touched it → it feels familiar → it feels more connected to me → it may seem more valuable.

Imagine someone browsing headphones in an electronics store. They pick up one pair, adjust the ear cups and hold the device for several seconds. Even before buying it, the product has become part of a personal experience rather than remaining a distant object on a shelf.

That does not guarantee a purchase. But touch can change the psychological relationship with the product.

Psychology Says Psychological Ownership Can Exist Before Legal Ownership

Psychological ownership refers to the subjective feeling that something is “mine,” even when formal ownership has not been established.

Researchers Jon L. Pierce, Tatiana Kostova and Kurt Dirks developed a major theoretical framework around psychological ownership, explaining how people can experience possession through psychological rather than purely legal relationships with objects. Their work identifies routes such as control, intimate knowledge and investment as important pathways to feeling ownership.

Touch can contribute to this process because it creates direct interaction with the object. For example, someone testing a leather bag may inspect its stitching, hold its handles and feel its texture. The shopper is not simply looking at an advertised product anymore. They are experiencing it directly.

That experience may make the object feel more personally relevant.

The Endowment Effect Can Change How Much a Product Seems Worth

This idea connects with the endowment effect, associated with behavioral economists Daniel Kahneman, Jack Knetsch and Richard Thaler. Their research showed that ownership can influence how people value objects.

Importantly, researchers distinguish between simply owning something and feeling ownership. The mere-touch research suggests that even before an actual purchase, touch can increase perceived ownership.

Consider someone trying on an expensive coat. Before entering the fitting room, they may think the price is too high. After putting it on, looking in the mirror and experiencing the fit, the coat may suddenly feel harder to leave behind.

The price has not changed. The product has not changed. But the shopper's psychological relationship with it may have.

Psychology Says Touch Can Be Especially Important for “Haptic” Products

Not every product benefits equally from physical contact. Peck and Childers found that the importance of haptic information varies depending on the product, consumer and situation. This is why touching a blanket, sofa or pair of shoes may be much more informative than touching a box of cereal.

A shopper choosing a bedsheet may care about softness. Someone buying a suitcase may want to test its weight and handle. A person purchasing a wooden table may want to feel the finish.

In these cases, touch is not merely emotional. It provides genuine information that can improve product evaluation.

Touch Can Also Explain Why Shopping Online Feels Different

Interestingly, researchers have found that touch can influence ownership even in digital environments. Scott A. Brasel and James Gips studied touchscreen interfaces and found that touch-based interfaces could increase perceived psychological ownership and magnify the endowment effect compared with less tactile interfaces.

This suggests that the psychology of touch is not limited to physically holding merchandise.

A touchscreen can create a more interactive experience than simply clicking with a mouse. Swiping through a product gallery, zooming into an image and manipulating an object on screen may create a greater sense of personal interaction.

The experience is different from physically holding the product, but the underlying principle is similar: interaction can influence psychological connection.

Not Everyone Who Touches Products Is More Materialistic

It would be a mistake to interpret this behavior as evidence that someone is materialistic or impulsive.

Some people touch products because they want better sensory information. Others may have stronger need for touch, a consumer trait associated with a preference for acquiring information through tactile experience.

And sometimes touching something simply feels satisfying. The important point is that touch can perform several psychological functions at once. It can provide information, increase familiarity, create confidence and potentially strengthen perceived ownership.

So the person who insists on feeling every sweater, testing every chair or holding every gadget before buying it may not simply be “picky.” They may be using one of the most direct ways humans have to understand the physical world: touching it.

FAQs

Why do people touch products before buying them?

Touch provides information about physical properties such as texture, weight, temperature and hardness. Research suggests it can also influence perceived ownership and product valuation.

Can touching something make it feel like it belongs to you?

Research on the mere-touch effect found that simply touching an object can increase perceived ownership, even before someone legally owns the item.