THE

MATERIAL
SELF
PREPARED BY:
MARIE FRANCE BALAGUER
KIRSTEN BRON
IRA HEDAH BASMAYOR
ALJORIZ CALLADA
What is your most treasured possession?
 The material self

 Belk 1988 stated that ‘’we regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We are what we have and what we possess.’’.
Our wanting to have to have and possess has a connection with another aspect of the self, the material self.

 A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth century, William James wrote in his book ‘’Principles of Psychology’’ in 1890
that the understanding the self can be examined through different components. He described these components as:
1. its constituents;
2. the feelings and emotions they arouse- the self feelings;
3. actions to which they prompt- self seeking and self preservation
The constituents of self are composed pf the material self, the social self and the spiritual self and the pure ego. (Trentmann
2016, Green 1997)
 Material self investment diagram

 The material self, according to James

primarily is about our bodies, clothes,
immediate family and home.
 The innermost part of our material self is
our body. We are directly attached to this
commodity that we cannot live without. We
strive hard to make sure that his body
functions well and good.
 Next is the clothes we use. Influenced by
the philosophy of dress’’ by Herman Lotze,
James believed that clothing is an essential
part of the material self.
Material self investment diagram

 The fabric and style of clothes we wear

bring sensations to the body hierarchy of
material self. Clothing is a form of self-
expression. We choose and we wear
clothes thar reflect in our self.(Watson
2014).
 Third in the hierarchy is our immediate
family. Our parents and siblings hold
another great important part of ourself.
What they do or become affects us. We
place huge investments in our immediate
family when we see them as the nearest
replica of our self.
Material self investment diagram

 The fourth component of the material self is our

home. Home is an extension of self because it is
where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our
selfhood. Our experiences inside the home were
recorded and marked on particular parts and things
in our home.
 The more investment and self-given to the particular
thing, the more we identify ourselves to it. We also
tended to collect and possess properties. As James
(1890) described self; a man’s self is the total of all
what he can call his. Possessions become part or an
extension of the self.
 Mere Ownership Effect

 Owning an object makes it more attractive to us that is why people desire to maintain a positive
self image
 A victim of a property crime might involve rather more psychological trauma than is often
credited to the loss of ‘’mere things.’’
 Individuals perceive and experience material possessions as integral part of their self
 Symbols of Personal and social identity
 Symbol is an entity that stands for another identity.
 Symbolic Self Completion Theory- use of material possessions among other strategies to compensate for
perceived discrepancies
Symbols of status, wealth and group
membership

 Distinguishes between their categorical significance, which identifies the social position
of the owner and their expressive significance for the owner’s style of life and personal
and cultural values.
 Status symbols change over time.
 Some are drawn not from high-status groups but from rebellious subcultures (e.g. punk)
Psychologists who study the impact of wealth and inequality have found that money can
powerfully influence our thoughts and actions in ways that we are often not aware of, no
matter what our economic circumstances are (Gregoire, 2014)
Cash can have a serious bearing on one’s belief regarding the way a person views himself/herself
(Curtis, 2017).
 Evidences Behind The Idea That Money
Can Truly Change People

SOCIAL AND BUSINESS VALUE -- there are two motivations for completing a given task (Heyman and Ariely, 2004): 
1.Social 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
2.Business Value- the more money offered, the greater the effort done.

 SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND SERVICE -- money-conscious individuals are more self-sufficient than their peers, particularly when
money is made the focus.

SELF-VIEW -- the amount one earns could have an effect on how he/she views both himself/herself and others.

ETHICS -- those who perceive themselves to be in a higher class are the most likely to engage in unethical behavior.

ADDICTION -- earning money can be very addictive to some individuals.

Shaping the Way We See Ourselves:

 The Roles of Consumer Culture on Our Sense of Self and Identity if possession are viewed as part
of self, it believes that losing an interest or intentions of posession can cause a loss or lessing of self.
One of the first step in receiving a new members into institution is the personal possessions.
Talking about eliminating uniqueness is the systematic substitutions or identity kits in 1891 by
Synder and Fromkin that corresponds an often traumatic lessing individual sense of self.
 There are also reports of loss of part self among victims natural disaster. In 1984 McLeod found
that those who lost posession to a mudlife went through process similar to losing a loved one
delivering from denial to anger, to depression and finally to acceptance.
 There is connection between wealth and well being, a belief that feeds what Juliet Schor calls
"cycle of work and spend" in 1998 to work more to buy more. The level of consumption where if
you work hard you will get or earn a lot of income. But there is no possibility of "too much" or
"too little" consumption. Those make no sense. After working hard for a long hours and day. You
can receive a gift or reward for yourself.
 Special Cases of Extended Self

COLLECTIONS (“I Shop, Therefore I Am”)

• The cultivation of a collection is a purposeful self-defining act.
• Collections may be seen as transition objects or security blankets for adults. 
• A compulsive tendency urges them to collect as much as they could; which gives them a greater feeling of security,
and therefore becoming a basis of the sense of self-identity.

PETS AS EXTENDED SELF

• Pets are regarded as representative of self.
• Studies show that we attempt to infer characteristics of people from their pets.
• Pets are regarded as family members.
• Pets are so instrumental to self-identity. 

BODY PARTS
• Body parts are among the most central parts of the extended self.
• In psychoanalytic terms, such self-extension is called cathexis.
• When a body part is more highly cathected, there is a greater use of grooming products to care for this part of the
body.
• The loss of body parts is tantamount to losing one’s identity and one’s very being.
Symbolic Functions of Possessions

 Categorical Symbols
Signs of social identity , Social standing, wealth, status, group membership

Signify Special Relationships

Gifts or heirlooms, Interpersonal relationships include romantic partners, friend, and
family

Self Expressive symbols

Signs of personal identity, ‘’snapshot’’ of personal history and memories
Identity related differences in functions of
possessions

Identity through life span

Infants- special relationship with just one or two material objects
during first 2 years. (From total dependency towards autonomy/
emotional comfort)
Older children- (10-11 years) named sports equipment and toys
Enjoyment, freedom and activities
Adolescents ( 14-18) varied and, in addition to enjoyment and activity,
peer group ties associated with these objects, Identity expression
interpersonal ties, Cars, jewelry, photographs, general memorabilia
Identity through life span

 Middle and late adulthood-photographs and jewelry

(Social and family networks
 Emotions and memories Culture
 Systematic differences between cultures in identity related and mood
regulation functions of material possessions that reflect culturally
privileged forms of self construal
 Yet self construal differences exist not only between, but also within
cultures
Differences in functions of possessions

 Gender
 Men
 Preference for action- oriented goods
 Practical, control and activity-related (vehicles, leisure objects)
 Women
 Sentimental possessions
 Symbols of interpersonal relationships
 These gender differences in the psychological functions of possessions can be
understood as reflections of the ways in which women and men typically construct
their identity
Conclusion

MATERIAL SELF 
•  refers to all of the physical elements that reflect who a person is.
• Eg. body, family, home, clothes, practical interests, luxury, and
materialism.
• MATERIALISM - the theory or belief that nothing exists except
matter, its movements and its modifications
• The theory or belief that consciousness and will are wholly due to
material agency
• A tendency to consider that material possessions and physical
comfort as more important than spiritual values.
References

 Dittmar, H. (2008). Consumer, culture , identity and well-being; the

search for the ‘’good life’’ and the ‘’body perfect’’ . East Sussex:
Psychology Press
 Villafuerte, S. Quillope; Understanding the self
 Alata, P. Eden Joy; Understanding the self. Rex Book store