Why do we love collecting?
All In The Mind
ABC listen
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Whether it's stamps, figurines, antiques or toys, plenty of people love collecting. But why?
What are the psychological drivers behind the hobby? How much is marketing influencing us, and is there a risk of collecting turning into hoarding?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. |
| 0:07.5 | What do vintage teaspoons, coins, plush toys, handbags, stamps and comic books all have in common? |
| 0:16.3 | Certain people, for whatever reason, love to collect them. |
| 0:22.4 | What's the deal with this drive to collect? |
| 0:26.2 | What about our psychology makes it appealing? |
| 0:29.2 | Or is it all just clever marketing? |
| 0:32.5 | Across the board, retailers, manufacturers definitely know that as humans, many of us have the desire to collect. |
| 0:41.3 | And what separates collecting from hoarding? |
| 0:44.8 | People often conflate hoarding with collecting, but there is quite a clear difference. |
| 0:52.0 | I'm Sana Khadar. This is all in the mind. |
| 0:54.9 | And today, producer Rose Kerr joins us to explain our love of collecting. |
| 1:02.8 | Hi, Rose. |
| 1:04.0 | Hi, Sana. |
| 1:04.9 | I have been dying to ask you. |
| 1:07.5 | Are you a collector? |
| 1:10.4 | No, not as an adult. |
| 1:12.4 | I'm trying to think. |
| 1:13.1 | I don't know. |
| 1:13.8 | I don't really collect anything now. |
| 1:15.9 | As a kid, you know, I was into collecting stickers and kind of surprise toys, weirdly, |
| 1:22.1 | was a big collecting thing of mine. |
| 1:24.1 | So I had a bookshelf full of like kinder surprise toys in my room. |
... |
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