Unit II - Unpacking

the Self
Lesson 3 – The Material Self
DEBIT CARD CHALLENGE
A very young 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.
 ANALYSIS
1. How do you feel as you do the Debit Card
Challenge?
2. Which among the items in your list you like the most?
Why?
3. If ever you were given the chance in real life to have
one among the list, which would you choose? Why?
4. Does your choice different from what you answer in
question number 2? Why or why not?
 ANALYSIS
5. Let your classmate read your list. Ask him/her to give
or write a quick impression of yourself based on the
list you showed him/her.
6. Is the quick impression of your classmate has some
truth about what you are?
• Materialism – the importance a consumer attaches to
worldly possessions
• Highest levels of materialism – (such possessions)
assume a central place in a person’s life and are
believed to provide greatest sources of satisfaction
• Highly materialistic person – purchases of
consumer goods offer the potential for magical
transformation of the self
Biological Perspective

Hypothalamus: “I need that”

Prefrontal Cortex: “Correct! It’s necessary.”
Amygdala: “I want this.”
Prefrontal Cortex: “Okay!”

Psychological Perspectives
a. Sigmund Freud’s concept of ID – pleasure-seeking
b. Abraham Maslow – hierarchy of needs
- there are needs we need to satisfy
Eight Hierarchy of Needs
1. Biological and physiological needs
2. Safety needs
3. Love and belongingness needs
4. Esteem needs
a. esteem for oneself
b. the desire for reputation or respect from others
5. Cognitive needs
6. Aesthetic needs
7. Self-actualization needs
8. Transcendence needs
Spiritual Perspective

Two Kinds of Self

a. Peripheral or Masked Self
“periphery” – surface
“persona” – theatrical mask
ü self is complicated and exhaustible
ü self that will change, will rot, will fade away
or disappear, will die or turn to dust
ü self that serves as the means for the growth of the
authentic self
b. Authentic Self
ü true self that is simple, equal, and inexhaustible
ü self that will not change, will not rot, will not dies, or will
remain-self
• We make choices about which of the two will form the core of
our personality
• To choose our authentic self is to fully accept our humanness
• To choose our masked self is to exert effort to gain
acceptance; to fail to recognize human limitations; to fail to
appreciate our gifts, potentials…
Cultural Perspective

Consumer culture
ü is a form of capitalism and a way of life that focuses on the
selling of consumer goods and spending of money
ü is driven by the power of money where happiness is
attained in buying and owning personal property
ü aims at acquiring external riches more than having spiritual
or transcendental pursuits
ü leads to class division
Cultural Perspective

Manifestations that you are a slave of consumerism:

ü being shopaholic
ü panic buying
ü purchasing the latest gadgets or any piece of
merchandize
ü competing with peers in economic aspect
ü seeking happiness from consuming
ü buying expensive brands and always wanting more
Cultural Perspective

+ Consumerism helps drive the economy because

people are encourage to spend.

- Consumerism encourages people to overspend and

consequently, it can lead to personal debts.
MATERIAL SELF INVESTMENT DIAGRAM
body
clothes
immediate family
Home
• Material self is all about bodies, clothes, immediate family,
and home. (William James)
ü deeply affected by these things – put much investment
of our self
• innermost part of the material self – BODY
• directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live
without
• make sure that this body functions well and good
• any ailment or directly affects the body
• preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body
parts because of its value to us
• second hierarchy of material self - CLOTHES
• “Philosophy of Dress” (Herman Lotze), clothing is an
essential part of the material self (William James)
• Microcosmus (Lotze) – “any time we bring an object into the
surface of our body, we invest that object into the
consciousness of our personal existence taking in its
contours to be our own and making it part of the self”
• fabric and style of the clothes – bring sensations to the body
which directly affect our attitudes and behavior (Watson,
2014)
• third hierarchy of material self – IMMEDIATE FAMILY
• parents and siblings hold another great important part of our
self
ü what they do or become affects us
ü when an immediate family member dies, part of our self
dies, too
ü when their lives are in success, we feel their victories
as if we are the one holding the trophy
ü in their failures, we are put to shame or guilt
ü when they are in disadvantage situation – urgent urge
to help like a voluntary instinct of saving one’s self from
danger
• Fourth component of material self – HOME
• Home is where the heart is and earliest nest of our selfhood
ü experiences inside the home were recorded and marked
on particular parts and things in our home
ü old cliché about rooms: “if only walls can speak”
ü extension of the self – can directly connect our self
• The more investment of self-given to the particular thing, the
more we identify ourselves to it.
• We tended to collect and possess properties.
• The collections in different degree of investment of self,
becomes part of the self.
• “A man’s self is the sum total of all what he CAN call his.”
(James, 1890).
• Possessions then become a part or an extension of the self.
 We Are What We Have
“…we regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We are
what we have and what we possess.” (Russel Belk, 1988)
• Identification of the self to the things started in our infancy
stage when we make a distinction among self and
environment and others who may desire our possessions
 We Are What We Have
• as we grow older, putting importance to material possession
decreases
• material possession gains higher value in our lifetime if we
use these to find happiness, associate these things with
significant events, accomplishments, and people in our
lives
• material possession of a person gains acknowledgment with
high regard
 We Are What We Have
• The possessions that we dearly have tell something
about who we are: our self-concept, our past, and
even our future.