Want

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A friend recently sent me an incomplete IM that read simply "do you want." I jokingly replied "Do I want? What purpose does want serve to human existence." And then my joke turned into an acutal thought process, with the basic question:

What evolutionary purpose is served by the psychological mechanism of want?

Anything that is wanted is by definition not needed. Therefore anything wanted is excess. But is excess good? This thought is answered in the pseudo-synonym for want: covet. To covet something implies that it's a bad thing to want it.

Since evolution seems to favor the expression of superiority, we could say that want accomplishes this. We want things so that we can have more things and show our superiority to others through our material or immaterial possessions. The problem with this is that the phrase "one wants things in order to express superiority" implies "one wants superiority," which brings us to where we started.

Sadly, I'm not well versed in motivational psychology to help answer this question. Thoughts welcome.