Activity: Debit Card Challenge:

A very wealthy person gave you a debit card and told you to use it as much as
you want to make yourself happy. What are you going to do with it? Make a
list of what you want to have. Write as many as you want.

After you listed all your wants, answer the following questions:

Which among the items in your list you like the most? Why?
If ever you were given the chance in real life to have one among the list,
which would you choose? Why?
Materialistic
APA: What does it mean to be materialistic and
why is it generally viewed in a negative light?
Why are some people materialistic and others
not?
To be materialistic means to have values that put a relatively high priority on making a lot of money and having many
possessions, as well as on image and popularity, which are almost always expressed via money and possessions.
It is viewed in a negative light because people may have had unpleasant experiences with materialistic people. We know
from research that materialism tends to be associated with treating others in more competitive, manipulative and selfish
ways, as well as with being less empathetic. Such behavior is usually not appreciated by the average person, although it is
encouraged by some aspects of our capitalist economic system.

Research shows two sets of factors that lead people to have materialistic values.

First, people are more materialistic when they are exposed to messages that suggest such pursuits are important,
whether through their parents and friends, society, or the media.

Second, and somewhat less obvious — people are more materialistic when they feel insecure or threatened, whether
because of rejection, economic fears or thoughts of their own death.

-Tim Kasser, PhD, is a professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, specializing in materialism and well-being. Among Kasser’s numerous
articles and books are “The High Price of Materialism,” published in 2002hester.
MATERIAL SELF
Understanding the Self
Table of Content

03. 04. 05. 06. 07.

WILLIAM JAMES CLOTHING BODY FAMILY HOME

08. 09. 10. 11. 12.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
OWNERSHIP MATERIALISM CONSUMER CULTURE IDENTITY WELL-BEING
 OBJECTIVES

Establish the nuances of the material self.

Elaborate on the interrelationship between consumer culture and the material
self.
Identify the different perspectives through which the material self is seen.
Determine the importance of the interplay of signs and symbols in the broader
context of consumer culture.
Examine the self against the different concepts and ideas relating to its material
aspects.
TRENDY BRAND
WILLIAM BOOK: THE
"FATHER OF AMERICAN
PSYCHOLOGY”

PRINCIPLES OF
JAMES PSYCHOLOGY
1980
THE SELF HAS THREE COMPONENTS

IT’S CONSTITUENTS

IT’S FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS THEY AROUSE–

SELF-FEELINGS

THE ACTIONS TO WHICH THEY PROMPT--- SELF-

SEEKING AND SELF- PRESERVATION
The
constituents

THE MATERIAL SELF THE SOCIAL SELF THE PURE EGO THE SPIRITUAL SELF
 It refers to the tangible objects,
people, or places that carry the
designation of my or mine.

Anything that evoke emotional

feelings to, like things, persons
and experiences that we have in
our lives as part of the self.

MATERIAL SELF
MATERIAL SELF -INVESTMENT
DIAGRAM

BODY

CLOTHES

FAMILY

HOME

SELF
Psychological
Ownership

A POSSESSIVE FEELINGS TOWARD MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL

OBJECTS MANIFESTING IN EXPRESSIONS SUCH AS MY, MINE, AND OUR.

THIS DEFINITION ALLOWS FOR POTENTIAL TARGETS OF OWNERSHIP TO

RANGE FROM A CAR OR A SIMPLE MUG TO AN IDEA, AN ORGANIZATION,
A PET, OR EVEN A PERSON (E.G., FRIENDS OR FAMILY). THE TARGET MAY
BE SMALL (E.G., A PREFERRED SEAT IN THE LIVING ROOM OR A FAVORITE
TELEVISION PROGRAM) OR LARGE (E.G., AN ENTIRE HOUSE OR A
COLLECTIONS OF PAINTINGS).
PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP, SELF-ESTEEM, AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP PROVIDES PEOPLE WITH AN INNER MOTIVE TO DEFINE THEIR SELF-IDENTITY USING WHAT
THEY OWN (MEAD 1934; PIERCE AND PECK 2018).

PEOPLE’S DESIRE FOR MATERIAL POSSESSIONS IS DRIVEN BY “THE BENEFITS THESE GOODS PROVIDE—AN INCREASE IN
COMFORT OR PLEASURE, THE ABILITY TO ACCOMPLISH NEW TASKS, THE ESTEEM OF OTHERS WHEN THEY REGARD WHAT
WE OWN” (RICHINS 2002, 85).

ANOTHER COMPELLING ARGUMENT FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OWNERSHIP AND SELF-ESTEEM COMES FROM THE
SOCIAL ASPECT OF OWNERSHIP. INDIVIDUALS REGULATE THEIR SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS BY USING THEIR POSSESSIONS
(DITTMAR 1992). FOR EXAMPLE, CHILDREN USE THEIR TOYS TO ADJUST THEIR POSITION IN A GROUP’S HIERARCHY BASED
ON WHO IS OR IS NOT ALLOWED TO USE THEIR TOYS (DITTMAR 1992).

“POSSESSIONS ARE VIEWED AS SIGNS OF RELATIONSHIPS, BUT ALSO AS PAWNS IN THE GAME WHICH SERVE TO
REGULATE, UNDERMINE, OR CEMENT CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS,” WRITES DITTMAR (1992, 52).

MOREOVER, PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AND AWARE OF THE IMPACT OF THE MEANINGS OF THEIR
POSSESSIONS TO THEIR SOCIAL POSITION AND USE POSSESSIONS AS SOCIAL-MATERIAL LOCATORS (DITTMAR
1992).
CONSUMER CULTURE

The concept of material culture where values,

attitudes, behaviors are defined by our ability to
consume goods and services.

Our ability to consume certain goods and services

tells something about our status in society. If we can
afford it, we can live with it. Without purchasing
power, we cannot experience it and therefore it
cannot be part of who we are.
CONSUMER
CULTURE
Consumer culture, Identity and
Well-being
Consumer culture
Consumer culture is best seen as “the sociocultural, experiential, symbolic,
and ideological aspects of consumption” that have been researched from a
“family of theoretical perspectives that address the dynamic relationships
between consumer actions, the marketplace, and cultural meanings”.
(Arnould & Thompson, 2005, p. 868).

Consumer culture abounds with symbolic messages associated with material goods an
ideal people. In brief, a symbol is an entity that stands for another entity, and most
importantly- it can have meaning only to the extent that it has shared reality among
people. Example having a fashion designer briefcase can only be effective symbol of
being trendy if others ( at least those in the owner’s social reference group) share the
belief that the briefcase is indeed fashionable.
The symbolism inherent in consumer goods can be defined as the images of the of “idealized
people with the good, and the message is that buyers not only consume the actual good
advertised, but also its symbolic meanings ( successful, happy attractive, glamorous), thus
moving closer to the ideal identity portrayed by the media models. Although there is diversity
in the nuances of idealized imagery, they may seem variations around prominent themes, with
the perfect body and the material good life as central.

Our most obvious use of symbol is language, both written and spoken. However, there is
increasing evidence that we can and do use material objects as a kind of quasi language, although
there are limitations to this analogy.

·Through advertising and fashion industries, consumer culture presents individuals with images
that contain” lifestyle and identity instructions that convey unadulterated marketplace ideologies
(i.e. look like this, act like this, want these things, aspire to this kind of lifestyle).
Materialism
Materialism refers to a theoretical system where matter is seen as the only
reality in the world, as opposed to spiritualism and idealism (Popkin & Stroll,
1993).

Definitions of materialism often refer to the satisfaction or happiness people

expect to gain from material goods. For instance, materialism has been defined
as “an orientation emphasizing possessions and money for personal
happiness and social progress” (Ward & Wackman, as cited in (Fournier &
Richins, 1991, p. 404).
Identity

is defined as the subjective concept (or representation) that a person holds of him- or herself (Vignoles,
Regalia, Manzi, Golledge, & Scabini,2006).

“Identity is located on the level of subjective psychological experience, rather than necessarily referring
to an objective ‘essence’ ” (p. 309). Second, identity defined in this way is inclusive, involving individual,
relational, and group levels of self-representation (Sedikides &Brewer, 2001).

This also means that identity is multi-faceted, and consists of diverse self representations, “differentiated
from each other, rather than integrated to form a unitary structure” (Donahue, Robins, Roberts, &
John,1993, p. 834). What this means is that each person has multiple identities, and this is consistent with
research findings showing that people list very diverse qualities, and even material objects, when they
are asked “Who are you?”
 Maintaining identity

Early evidence that possessions help people to maintain a general sense of identity and integrity can
be found in Goffman’s classic analyses of “self mortification” in prisons and mental hospitals (1961,
1968).

Symbolic self-completion

The notion that people use material symbols to bolster or enhance aspects of their identity is part of
Symbolic Self-completion Theory, which proposes that people make use of material possessions,
among other strategies, to compensate for perceived inadequacies in their self-concept (Wicklund
&Gollwitzer, 1982).
Types of Shoppers
A relatively recent example is a survey of UK respondents (Lunt & Livingstone, 1992),which identified :

Routine shoppers- who buy according to need rather than on impulse;

Leisure shoppers-who come close to the stereotype of “I shop therefore I am”
Thrifty shoppers- who are economical
Alternative shoppers- who have an anti-consumerist stance and
prefer second-hand outlets.
Well- being
the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous : welfare.

Psychology has traditionally been concerned with predictors of unhappiness and ill-health, whereas
an explicit focus on factors that enhance individuals’ well-being is a more recent development,
termed “positive psychology” Positive psychology is a branch of psychology focused on the character
strengths and behaviors that allow individuals to build a life of meaning and purpose—to move
beyond surviving to flourishing.

An important aspect of well-being is the experience of happiness, which is highly subjective. Good
and bad events influence happiness temporarily, but people can and do adjust. For instance, a
famous study showed that both lottery winners and accident victims who ended up in wheelchairs,
after an initial strong reaction to their good or bad fortune, returned to their previous level of
happiness (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1978).
Hedonic Treadmill

The hedonic treadmill is a theory based

on the observation that there is a
tendency for people to quickly return to
a relatively stationary level of happiness
or “set point” despite experiencing major
positive or negative events or life
changes. The hedonic treadmill is also
known as hedonic adaptation.

Adaptation is the process by which the

negative and positive effects on
happiness fade over time. The name
hedonic treadmill was first mentioned in
the 1971 Brickman and Campbell’s essay
called “Hedonic Relativism and Planning
the Good Society.”
Well-being
Belk’s (1984)BMS Belk Materialism Scale were related negatively to life satisfaction and happiness.
Belk concluded that materialistic people were not happy and that, particularly, non-generosity and
envy were source of human dissatisfaction.

A study with students, examining whether individuals who endorse materialistic values strongly, as
well as opposing family and community values, would show value conflict effects that were
reflected in 80 Consumer culture, identity and well-being lower subjective well-being.

Self-determination Theory proposes that attaching high importance to an extrinsic life goal, such as
financial success, is negatively associated with indicators of well-being, because extrinsically
motivated goals are guided by external influences, such as coercion or approval from others,
whereas intrinsically motivated goals are of interest in their own right, bringing pleasure and true
fulfilment.

But from the point of view of an economic/social system that relies on spending to drive high levels
of profit for companies, economic growth for the nation and tax revenue for the government,
consumption and over-spending related to materialism may be viewed as a positive.