MATERIAL SELF

A man’s self is the sum total of what he can call his (James, 1980)
 
CHAPTER X, The Consciousness of Self (A) THE EMPIRICAL SELF OR
ME, The Principles of Psychology (JAMES, 1890)

The body is the innermost part of the material Self in

each of us; and certain parts of the body seem more
intimately ours than the rest.
 
The clothes come next. The old saying that the
human person is composed of three parts - soul, body
and clothes - is more than a joke. We so appropriate
our clothes and identify ourselves with them that
there are few of us who, if asked to choose between
having a beautiful body clad in raiment perpetually
shabby and unclean, and having an ugly and
blemished form always spotlessly attired, would not
hesitate a moment before making a decisive reply.
 
Next, our immediate family is a part of ourselves.
Our father and mother, our wife and babes, are bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh. When they die, a
part of our very selves is gone. If they do anything
wrong, it is our shame. If they are insulted, our anger
flashes forth as readily as if we stood in their place.
 
Our home comes next. Its scenes are part of our life;
its aspects awaken the tenderest feelings of affection;
and we do not easily forgive the stranger who, in
visiting it, finds fault with its arrangements or treats it
with contempt. All these different things are the
objects of instinctive preferences coupled with the
most important practical interests of life. We all have
a blind impulse to watch over our body, to deck it
with clothing of [p. 293] an ornamental sort, to
cherish parents, wife and babes, and to find for
ourselves a home of our own which we may live in
and 'improve.'
 
 

EVIDENCES BEHIND THE IDEA THAT MONEY TRULY CAN CHANGE

PEOPLE
Lifted from Understanding the Self by Villafuerte, S., Quilope, A., Tunac, R. and
Borja, E. (2018)
 
Psychologists who study the impact of wealth and inequality on human behavior have
found that money can powerfully influence our thoughts and actions in ways that
we’re often not aware of, no matter what our circumstances are (Greogoire, 2014)
Curtis (2017) manifested that cash can have serious bearing on one’s belief regarding
the way a person views himself/herself. The following are evidences of such idea.

A. Social and Business Value

By recognizing a task’s social value a person sees it as a worthy investment of time
and a part of his/her social duty, and he/she is usually happy to help out. When money
is offered as the motivation, however, people then sat thinking less of the social aspect
and more about the business value.
For example, if a relative asked you to baby-sit their kids or tend the elderly for few
hours, you may be more motivated to do so when you will receive more in exchange
of your service. You may even be more enthusiastic the next time around. However, if
you will be paid less or think that you will not gain from the activity, then you are
more likely to give alibis and excuses.

B. Self Sufficiency and Service

 Those who are conscious of money typical strive to be more self-sufficient than those
for whom money isn’t a priority. In a research that was conducted, it was found that
when given a very difficult and even impossible task, with instructions that help was
available, it was the money-related group that seems the most intent on getting the job
done alone, even when it was not possible to finish the task solo. It only means that
money-conscious individuals are more self-sufficient than their peers, particularly
when money is made the focus.
 
C. Self-view
 The wealthiest people are those with the deepest sense of class essentialism – the idea
that differences between classes are based upon identity and genetics, rather than
circumstance. Poor people tend to believe that social class was not related to genes,
that essentially, anyone can be rich and anyone can be poor. Rich people were more
likely to believe that wealth was part of genes and identity, that they were entitled to
wealth based upon their personal circumstances and actions. Wealthy people also
believe that more or less, life is fair and people mostly get what they deserve.
 
D. Ethics
 Those who perceive themselves to be in a higher class were most likely to engage in
unethical behaviour, particularly when a symbol of wealth is introduced. That is,
people who have more tendencies to break the law. e.g. cutting off a pedestrian when
in a luxury car.
 Piff (2012) also found in his research a phenomenon he labelled as self-interest
maximization. It is the idea that suggests that those who have the most money or
occupy higher classes are more likely to take a “what’s in it for me?” attitude. They
actively work toward the most benefit for themselves.
 
E. Addiction
 Many addictions begin because a person gets a positive response from a certain type
of behaviour. Whether it’s a happy feeling that one gets from shopping or a thrill that
comes from gambling, actively seeking out that behaviour again and again for the
same outcome can trigger addiction.
 Behavioral or process addiction – a compulsive behavior not motivated by
dependency on an addictive substance, but rather by the process that leads to a
seemingly positive outcome.

IMPULSIVE BUYING COMPULSIVE BUYING

This is characterized by an excessive

This refers to a sudden and powerful urge
preoccupation or poor impulse control
in the consumer to buy immediately. It
with shopping, with adverse
occurs when desire for a product or brand
consequences, like marital conflict and
outweighs one's willpower to resist.
financial problems.
 
 
MONEY AND WELL-BEING
Materialism as a philosophy is held by those who maintain that existence is
explainable solely in material terms, with no accounting of spirit or consciousness.
Individuals who hold to this belief see the universe as a huge device held together by
pieces of matter functioning in subjection to naturalistic laws.
(https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/materialism.htm)
Cycle of work and spend - work more to buy more. The level of consumption is set
mainly by people’s choices about how much to work, and therefore how much income
to earn
 
CORRELATES OF MATERIALISM
Lifted from Understanding the Self: Developing Life Skills by Magalona, E., Sadsad,
E., and Cruz, E (2018)
1. Materialism and happiness reportedly do not go well together as it was shown that
people who value possessions and material wealth over other more significant life
goals are said to be less happy and are more prone to depression.
2. Materialism and self-esteem show an inverted relationship.
3. Materialism and financial stability show an inverted relationship.
4. Materialism and well-being manifest opposite relationship as individuals practicing
this principle tend to isolate themselves from the significant others as they continue
try to derive gratification from amassing objects rather than interacting with the
people around them.
5. Materialism and self-concept prove how insecurity motivates people to work so
hard for material possessions as the same wealth becomes their source of security.
6. Materialism and lack of engagement mean losing one’s ability to empathize with
others as they become callous to other people’s needs.
ACCORDING TO GREGOIRE (2017) MATERIALISM MAKES PEOPLE
UNHAPPY FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
1. Consumer culture may be harming individual well-being.
Allegedly those who pursue more wealth and greater material possessions are less
satisfied as they experience less positive emotions.
2. Materialistic values are linked to Type-A behaviour.
Those who are highly ambitious are highly competitive and materialistic. These are
traits of a Type-A personality.
3. Money really cannot buy you happiness.
Several studies have shown that wealthy people are highly susceptible to depression.
Researches have also shown that money is not exactly what brings about the
dissatisfaction and the unhappiness but the extreme desire to earn more.
4. Materialism could ruin your relationship.
Materialistic values result to low-quality relationships and disconnectedness.
5. Consumer cultures may breed narcissistic personalities.
Narcissist are highly arrogant as they are deeply concerned with inadequacy. They
work a lot for power and prestige to cover up their perceived emptiness and low self-
worth. All these sentiments demand validation form others through praises,
compliments and approval.
6. Consumerism is fuelled by insecurity.
Research shows that those who are extremely doubtful of their self-worth are highly
insecure and thus have the tendency to be more materialistic.
Consumerism capitalizes on insecurity so their products and services will sell and be
highly demanded.

Consumption and the Extended Seelf

THE ART OF BUYING: COMING TO TERMS WITH MONEY AND
MATERIALISM
Tatzel, M (2003), The Art of Buying: Coming to Terms with Money and Materialism,
Journal of Happiness Studies 420-429
ABSTRACT. Money and possessions hold strong attractions, but being driven to
acquire them in order to enhance one’s social standing is associated with lowered
well-being. Literatures on money and happiness, materialism, and cultural mediators
are reviewed. Consumer well-being is associated with being neither very tight nor
very loose with money, with having relatively low financial aspirations, and with
being low in materialism. Price-related behaviors – whether to spend low, spend high,
or attempt to maximize value – are ways of responding to economic outlay vis-a-vis
material wants, and these “strategies” offer a window into broader consumer
lifestyles: the Value Seeker type is tight with money and materialistic; the Big
Spender is loose with money and materialistic; the Non-Spender is tight with money
and not materialistic; and the Experiencer is loose with money and not materialistic.
Each of these types is described in terms of the potentials for well-being as well as the
risks. Intrinsic motivation emerges as a key to well-being.
 

TIGHT WITH MONEY LOOSE WITH MONEY

Value seeker Big spender
Bargain hunter Exhibitionist
Hold possessions Replace possessions
HIGH MATERIALISM
Enjoy price comparison shopping Price-quality schema
Cool involvement Trend conscious
Save-to-spend Debt prone
Non-spender
Experiencer
Saver
Spend for recreation, self-
LOW MATERIALISM Ascetic lifestyle
development and services
Price averse
Generous
Quality less important
 
Here is an excerpt from Tatzel, M (2003), The Art of Buying: Coming to Terms with
Money and Materialism, Journal of Happiness Studies 420-429

Value Seeker: Tight with Money and Materialistic

Given the combination of high materialism and tight with money, we might expect the
Value Seeker to be especially unhappy – anxious about money, other directed,
dissatisfied, and in conflict between material desires and reluctance to spend.
• Value Seekers enjoy price comparison shopping, through which they derive
knowledge and hedonic benefits (Mamorstein et al., 1992).
• This is a “smart shopper” who can outwit the retailer and thus save money by paying
less than the going price (Mano and Elliott, 1997).
• Good value can be thought of as the lowest price for a given level of quality (Bei
and Heslin, 1997). Bargain hunters can ply their skills at virtually all points along the
quality continuum, even for luxury goods.
• Instead of the “hot” materialism of “I must have it now”, they can wait for the
synchrony of the right product at the right price. The pleasure of delayed acquisition
is sweetened by the triumph of the good buy.
• A preference for saving for expensive purchases (“save-to-spend”), rather than
borrowing, is also a form of delayed gratification.
• The Value Seeker should be debt averse. Debt is a form of loss of control over
money. Not only has one not held on to money (as the tight-with-money prefer to do),
not only has one spent what one has, one has also spent what one does not have.
Furthermore, paying interest on a loan is a “waste” of money for which one gets
nothing (no thing) in return.
• Many traits of the Value Seeker can support well-being: this is a competent
consumer, who enjoys shopping, enjoys saving money, and enjoys possessions.
• Yet being tight with money and materialistic are both associated with lowered well-
being. The risks to well-being for this type come from being extreme in these traits
plus having strong financial aspirations. The Value Seeker could become a fretful
individual, who feels poor, agonizes over purchases, and is a compulsive bargain
hunter.
 
Big Spender: Loose with Money and Materialistic
The Big Spender enjoys spending money and displaying high status possessions. The
price-seeking Big Spender feels successful with conspicuously expensive purchases.
They have attraction to spending, the belief that expensive things are better, and
prestige-seeking, with its overtones of competitiveness.
• The Big Spender is concerned with consuming in a showy manner. Thus possessions
that hold value may be of less interest, and money would flow into renewable
possessions, like cars, and into replacing outdated possessions, such as furniture. The
Big Spender wants the latest and the best.
• The Big Spender lifestyle is especially treacherous for those with limited means.
Low inhibitions about spending can lead to buying on credit, and debt in itself is
detrimental to well-being (Ahuvia and Friedman, 1998). If living within one’s means
requires buying a used car, the trend-conscious Big Spender may instead lease an
outsized sport utility vehicle, even if it means stretching credit to the limit.
• The Big Spender illustrates what is wrong with consumer culture: in the elusive
quest for the “good life”, the driven consumer overworks (Schor, 1992), overspends
(Schor, 1998), and goes into debt in order to own too many possessions (Dominguez
and Robin, 1992).
• Making one’s possessions visible to others and being fashionable both be speak
sociability. In its positive aspect, we can find in the Big Spender a healthy
extraversion, even though the need for admiration hints at the social anxiety and
competitiveness that motivate materialism.
• Being overly loose with money and highly materialistic, however, are both risk
factors for well-being. So is strong financial motivation, particularly for these ends,
and it is likely that the Big Spender will need lots of money to support a lifestyle of
free spending and endless material wants or else he will be at risk for compulsive
spending, social anxiety, guilt, low self-esteem, and dissatisfaction with life.
 
Non-Spender: Tight with Money and Not Materialistic
The Non-Spender is unmoved by the temptations of materialism.
• There is anxiety over parting with money and the fear over being cheated, and on the
other hand there is the enjoyment of holding money, tracking it, and perhaps watching
it grow.
• The Non-Spender is probably ill-at-ease in the marketplace and relatively unskilled.
He or she suspects that prices do not reflect quality, and this suspicion strengthens the
resolve to buy “low” and spend as little as possible (Rao and Sieben, 1992).
• Not spending is an adaptation to being poor, a strategy for survival in constrained
circumstances. In less constrained circumstances, such self-restraint can be a route to
financial independence and may even be the road to riches. The “millionaire next
door” (Stanley and Danko, 1996) lives modestly while amassing a fortune through
scrimping, saving and investing.
• The Non-Spender, free from the lures of consumer culture and free from the needs
for social approval that induce consumer conformity, may be particularly
individualistic, self-reliant, and self-controlled.
• The Non-Spender is also prone to the drawbacks of being overly tight with money –
worried, suspicious, stingy, withholding. Although low materialism is mostly a
positive force for well-being, one can imagine that a life of severe material denial
would be bleak and unstimulating with little to nourish growth. If the motive to hoard
money supercedes other life values, there would be little to counter the barrenness.
 
The Experiencer: Loose with Money and Not Materialistic
The Experiencer is someone who is relaxed about spending money and lacks material
motives, and so likely to spend on the transitory intangibles that enhance life.
• Spending for experience can take various forms.
Activities is one category. Examples include recreation, travel, self-improvement
workshops, entertainment.
Another category is service, the willingness to pay to have someone tend to one’s
needs. Dining at good restaurants and shopping at boutiques and specialty stores can
provide the personal attention and pleasant surroundings that are hard to come by in
serve-yourself supermarkets and in stark, impersonal discount stores.
• When money is spent on material objects, the value for the Experiencer lies more in
using the possessions than in showcasing them (Holt, 1995).
• It seems that of all the types, the Experiencer, who spends for personal growth and
pleasure and is low in materialism, is the most attuned to intrinsic motivation and is
therefore the most likely to enjoy wellbeing. Yet for the Experiencer, too, there are
risk factors, and one lies in the motive when spending for experience. Just as objects
can satisfy intrinsic or extrinsic motives, so can experiences.
Tourism is one such example: it can be a way of authentically participating in the
spirit of other cultures, or it can be a source of ego gratification, especially when the
tourist destination has been fashioned so as to flatter the tourist (MacCannell, 2002).
Is the motive for travel to savor the experience or to boast about having been to the in-
spots and thereby enhance one’s social standing? When experiences are valued as
status symbols (and certainly one can spend conspicuously for experiences as well as
for things), the Experiencer has moved toward the Big Spender type.
• A risk factor is being overly loose with money. A lack of concern about spending, or
a lack of self-control, can eventuate in the money problems and debt associated with
compulsive spending. When a large inflow of money is required in order to feed the
stream of spending, the pressure to acquire more money, which can strengthen
financial drives, can have negative consequences for well-being.

Let us consider how the same consumer choice may be assessed in the four money
worlds. Given a choice between replacing old, shabby furniture and going on
vacation, the Value Seeker might shop around for furniture sales or else refurbish the
old furniture, the Big Spender might upgrade and update the furniture in the latest
style, the Non-Spender might neither go on a vacation nor do anything about the
furniture, and the Experiencer is likely to opt for the vacation and make do with the
shabby furniture for a while longer.
 
VARIOUS WAY TO APPRECIATE OUR OWN UNIQUENESS AND BE
GENUINELY JOYOUS ABOUT IT.
Lifted from Understanding the Self: Developing Life Skills by Magalona, E., Sadsad,
 E., and Cruz, E (2018)
1. Learn to share your blessings no matter how simple it is.
2. Improve your self-esteem and self-worth by engaging in worthwhile activities.
3. Learn to communicate and relate with people around you.
4. Take time to appreciate the beauty of life and God’s creations.
5. Be grateful to those who compliment you by returning the favour.
6. Focus on your strengths and not on your flaws.
7. Stop projecting on media accounts about what you have and others do not.
8. Learn to let go of things that are not significantly needed,
9. Develop a mantra to counter the negativities entering your thoughts.
10. Stop brewing on negativities and on hurtful past. Focus on the future and what
you can do to be productive and happy.
 
SHAPING THE WAY WE SEE OURSELVES: The Roles of Consumer Culture on
Our Sense of Self and Identity Lifted from Understanding the Self by Villafuerte, S.,
Quilope, A., Tunac, R. and Borja, E. (2018)
 
POSSESSIONS AND THE EXTENDED SELF
If possessions are viewed as part of the self, it follows that an unintentional loss of
possessions should be regarded as loss or lessening of self
Example: In situations that deliberately such as mental hospitals, prisons,
concentration camps or military training camps, the firsts step in receiving members is
to systematically deprive them of all personal possessions including clothing, money
or even names. Their bodies may be standardized to some degree (e.g. military
haircuts, standard wardrobe) and their behaviors and conversations may be strictly
prohibited. The result of this systematic substitution of standardize “identity kits” for
former possessions is an elimination of uniqueness (Snyder and Fromkin, 1981) and a
corresponding and often traumatic lessening of the individual’s sense of self.
 
 
Another instance of non-voluntary loss of possession that bring about a diminished
sense of self is when possessions are lost due to theft or casualty. Rosenblatt, Walsh
and Jackson (1976) suggest that a process of grief and mourning may follow the
discovery of theft just as one might grieve and mourn the death of a loved one who
had been part of one’s life.
 Handbag snatching can produce not only a financial but also emotional, long term
effects on victims.
 Losing photographs of loved ones that are often carried in a purse may cause victims
sense of security impaired
 Those who lost possessions to a natural disasters went through a process of grief
similar to that of losing a loved one.
 
SPECIAL CASES OF EXTENDED SELF
1. Collections (I shop, therefore, I am)
a. Humans and animals once primarily assemble collections of necessities for future
security, but today humans more often assemble collection of non-necessities for
distinction and self-definition. The cultivation of a collection is a purposeful self-
defining act. Collecting has become a significant activity in our consumer society as it
has become more widely affordable through the discretionary time and money
available to the general population rather than just to the wealthy elite (Mason, 1981)
b. Many collectors who are inhibited and uncomfortable in social interaction,
surround themselves with favoured objects upon which they project human-like
qualities. They practically talk to these objects; they find comfort in being with them
and regard them as friends (Goldberg & Lewis, 1978). Note that not all collectors are
inhibited and uncomfortable in social interaction.
c. Collections may be seen as transition objects or security blankets for adults.

2. Pets
a. Pets are regarded as family members (Cain, 1985; Friedman & Thomas, 1985 etc).
b. It is significant that we name our pets, feed them, sleep and play with them, and
mourn their death (Hickrod & Schmitt 1982; Meer 1984)
c. In some cases, the mourning that comes with the death of the pet is similar to the
loss of a home or the loss of a limb (Carmack, 1985; Cowles; 1985 & Keddie 1977)
d. Pets are so instrumental to self-identity that they are often useful as transition
objects (surrogate parents) for children and as surrogate children for adults (Levinson,
1972; Robin & Bensel, 1985)

3. Body Parts
a. In psychology, cathexis is defined as the process of allocation of mental or
emotional energy to a person, object, or idea. Body cathexis is defined as the degree
of satisfaction reported by an individual for the parts of his body. (Jourard and Secord,
1955). This refers to the feelings (positive or negative) one feels towards his own
body. When a body a body is highly cathected, there is greater use of grooming
products to care for this part of the body.
b. Since we are permanently attached to out body parts, these body parts are expected
to be more strongly cathected than material possessions that can be more easily
acquired and discarded. And since body parts are normally central to conceptions of
self, the loss of body parts is tantamount to losing one’s identity and one’s very being.
Indeed the loss of limb is often viewed by those from whom it has been severed in
just this way.