On Wanting What We Do Not Have

Abstract

In providing a commentary on the articles in this special issue, my contribution integrates them at a higher level of abstraction. Two integrating devices prove useful: a cue-based approach, in which an aspect of unavailability signals a corresponding implication for desirability; and an attention-based approach, in which unavailability enhances salience and fosters rumination. These approaches complement one another, in that the former focuses on the content of thought (associations), whereas the latter places greater emphasis on the processes of thought (salience and rumination).