Inion, Trixie Joy M.

ZGE 1108 – B1A

20180100510 October 15, 2020

Essay on Material Self

The media and peer groups are the usual reasons why most of the people
motivates to acquire material possessions. The pressure on the peer groups and
media is because of thought that the more material possessions you have, the
more are people impressed. One good example for this is the clothes. According
to William James, the clothes represents the self. The stye and brand of clothes
become significant symbols. The clothes that an individual tend to wear are greatly
influenced by their peers for the reason that people are anxious to conform to what
their peer groups find fashionable and attractive. On the other hand, there are also
other reasons to how does the people gets motivated to acquire material
possessions. Some of the reasons are, the will of an individual to become
successful otherwise to improve their self-image, the thoughts that having material
possessions is what will bring them happiness and the expectations that material
possessions will be the way for them boost their social status. Material
possessions can reflect hard work and success. Normally, people prefer to
measure success by the amount of their material possessions. Owning material
possessions becomes a driving force for a person to seek a high degree of
achievement in order to be able to obtain more possessions.

Losing houses and other material possessions can be disruptive to

one’s mental health. In addition, people who cannot afford such things as they find
to be so important to their social standing are at risk of feeling inadequate and
even depressed. Psychologists consider other social and cultural influences that
tend to be heavily involved in the etiology of materialism. People are exposed to
images on TV, the internet, and magazines that brag about the importance of
material possessions such as branded clothing, mobile phones, and cars. The lack
or loss of these material possessions could lead to anxiety, insecurity, and
depression in people who are overly materialistic. A materialistic person is the one
Inion, Trixie Joy M. ZGE 1108 – B1A
20180100510 October 15, 2020

who is excessively concerned with the acquisition of material possessions. The

strong desire for material possessions could lead to psychological dysfunction or
impairment in functioning such as compulsive buying disorder or CBD which is
characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behaviors that can cause
adverse consequences. Most causes for compulsive shopping are psychological.
Generally, a person will have feelings of loneliness, depression, feel out of control
in a particular area, and seek to spend money to relieve stress. Spending addiction
is a symptom or blinking red-light warning sign that there are deep-rooted emotions
that one is trying to escape facing. For a while, an individual indulges in shopping
to help numb those disturbing emotions.