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Ask HN: What is the psychology behind why we like containers or boxes?

by sussexby on 8/24/18, 6:36 AM with 6 comments

The more I’m looking at business success the more I’m realising that some successful businesses are based on their ability to contain a raft of solutions to a single product or solution. e.g. I buy an iPhone because I know everything it can do without needing to make a chain of decisions about CPU, memory, display quality etc...

I’m after some books to help understand: Why is this? What about the human psychology yearns for things being wrapped up neatly? Where does this come from in nature? Conversely, why do some of us like to tinker and not be bound to containers? Are there natural examples of this?

  • by jl6 on 8/24/18, 7:37 AM

    Simplification. Our lives are deeply complex lists of Stuff that needs thinking about, working on, worrying about, etc..

    It is a great relief to have several items on the list encapsulated into just one.

    It’s also deeply practical. Imagine trying to manage a container ship without containerization.

  • by Terr_ on 8/24/18, 7:10 AM

    Okay, so you're not talking about the psychology that makes The Container Store profitable then... But something ambiguously broader.

    I'm not a psychologist -- this may be so broad is to be a philosophy question instead -- but humans like simplification and stories.

    Some of that may be thriftiness with biologically-expensive brainpower, and some of it may be tied to our core mechanisms for understanding the world with cause and effect.

  • by gpetukhov on 8/24/18, 7:27 AM

    Well designed "box-like" services and products allow people to save energy and time by not thinking too much. Brain takes a large portion of energy our body needs, so preferring these kinds of products is akin to preferring a motorcycle instead of a bicycle. It all comes down to all organisms propensity to not waste energy whenever possible.

  • by vgrocha on 8/30/18, 12:52 AM

    I'd point you to Jordan Peterson's "Maps of Meaning" course.

    In a couple of words: as a human, you have an objective (be successful, be sexier, make more money, etc.) and things around you will be either tools or obstacles.

    An example of a tool or "container" would be a car. It encapsulates a machinery and abstracts getting you from point A to point B. If it breaks, it leaks the abstraction and now you have to go out of your way to fix it.

    "Containers" that work are tools that help you achieve your objectives.

    For the second part, why some of us tinker: my theory is that we believe this knowledge will help us attain our objectives in a faster or easier path; it's an investment. For example with more knowledge, we can improve our containers or fix them faster when they break.

    Bottom line: It's all about humans trying to attain their objectives and using abstractions for it.

  • by irickt on 8/24/18, 3:13 PM

    It's a fact of language. A noun is a container for a thing or concept that gives us a handle on experience.