Uts Notes Week 7

William James
Materialistic/economic self
Materialism is a variable relevant to many aspects of economic psychology. To potential relationship

between several economic variables including the use of money work motivation giving and materialism.
Empirical self – according to William James, the term empirical self refers to all various ways people
answer the question who am I? Empirical self of each of us is the all tempted to call by the name of me.
Three Components of Empirical Self
1. The material self refers to tangible objects, people, or places that carry the designation my or
mine. Two subclasses of the material self can be distinguished: The bodily self and the
extracorporeal (beyond the body) self. Rosenberg (1979) has referred to the extracorporeal self
as the extended self. The bodily component of the material self requires little explanation. A
person speaks of my arms or my legs. These entities are clearly an intimate part of who we are.
But our sense of self is not limited to our bodies. It includes other people (my children), pets (my
dog), possessions (my car), places (my home town), and the products of our labors (my
painting). It is not the physical entities themselves, however, that comprise the material self.
2. Social Self - James called the second category of the empirical self the social self. The social self
refers to how we are regarded and recognized by others. modern researchers have proposed
that we also possess a relational self, the self-defined in terms of specific interpersonal
relationships. The relational self includes all of the individuals we regard as “ours,” such as our
parents, siblings, romantic partners, close friends, and colleagues. Evidence that these
relationships represent important aspects of self-definition comes from a variety of sources.
people spontaneously mention others when describing themselves, and include photographs of
their family, loved ones, and friends when asked to prepare photographs that reveal something
about “who you are”. They also assume that other people share their thoughts and feelings, and
sometimes confuse their own traits and attitudes for the traits and attitudes of others. people
learn about themselves by comparing themselves with others and by seeing themselves
reflected in other people’s eyes. Finally, people describe themselves in relationship-specific
terms. For example, they might say “I’m respectful with my boss” or “playful with my children.”
These relationship-specific identities are activated whenever we interact with the other person
or are reminded of their presence.
3. Spiritual Self- The third category in James’s scheme is the spiritual self. 2 The spiritual self is
our inner self or our psychological self. It is comprised of our self-perceived abilities, attitudes,
emotions, interests, values, motives, opinions, traits, and wishes. Many aspects of the spiritual
self are evaluative. People think of themselves as attractive or unattractive, intelligent or
unintelligent, and honest or dishonest. It is interesting to note the close connection James draws
between our possessions (which are aspects of the material self) and our emotions, attitudes,
and beliefs (which are components of the spiritual self). As Abelson (1986) observed, this
similarity is captured in our language. A person is said to have a belief, from the time the belief
is first acquired to the time it is discarded or lost. We also say things like “I inherited a view” or
“I can’t buy that!” Finally, we speak of people who have abandoned their convictions or
disowned an earlier position. These terms imply that possessions and attitudes share an
underlying conceptual property: they are both owned by the self
Material Self Investment Diagram
BODY
CLOTHES
IMMEDIATE
FAMILY H
O
M
E
The innermost part of our material self is our BODY. We are investing in our body. Directly
attached to this commodity that we cannot live without. Among celebrities their certain body
parts have a huge amount for insurance.
Next to the body are the CLOTHES we use. The fabric and style of the clothes we wear bring
sensations to the body to which directly affect our attitudes and behavior. Clothing is a form of
self-expression. We choose and wear clothes that reflect our self
Third is the IMMEDIATE FAMILY. We place a huge investment in our immediate family when we
see them as the nearest replica of our self.
The fourth component is our HOME. Home is where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our
selfhood.
Having investment of self to things, made us attached to those things. The more investment of
self-give to the particular thing, the more we identify ourselves to it.
We are what we Have

According to Belk, we regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We are what we have and
what we possess. As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases.
However, material possession gains higher value in our lifetime if we use material
accomplishments, and people in our lives.
The possession that we clearly have tell something about we are, our self-concept, our past and
even our future

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William James

Materialism is a variable relevant to many aspects of economic psychology. To potential relationship

We are what we Have

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