Time for a bit of psychology; as the co-operative creatures we are, humans are very sensitive to status and always form a hierarchy when in a group. Of course being able to cheat the system by pretending to be a higher status individual than you are is a great advantage, we can see it in operation all the time.
Take for example a psychiatric institution, a nut farm, a big house, call it what you will, a place where people suffering from emotional or mental problems are treated. You would think that as patients status would not matter at all, but as it turns out behaviour that has been observed in these establishments shows that even deeply disturbed people can be aware enough to try to cheat the system. Long term residents often manufacture imitation keys from wood to keep on a key chain. This is not an attempt to break out, but an attempt to attain and display the status of some of their superiors.
So next time you are in a shop and feel that desire for retail therapy, or if someone says “you really should get a…” and you feel bad because you do not own one of whatever it is, just think for a moment. Do you really want it? Or is it just you are playing catch up to other people’s perception?
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