I have a house plant in my room. If I don't water it, I get really bad conscience. I don't like the thought that this plant would cease to exist, just because I am too lazy or forgetful. I fear that my mother would notice it, (and she possibly cares about it because her mother or other people that have influenced her childhood cared about it and so on). It's generally extremely embarrassing to lose or destroy something that other people expect you to protect. A thing we protect possibly also resembles our own finitude and we project our will to survive onto it. Perhaps look into research on will to survive and empathy.