October 14, 2019

• Self Discovery Session

• Bitin?
• Reflection Paper
• Other Schedules:
• Collection: Php 40.00
• Prosocial Assignment
• Outreach
• Cathedral
• October 21, 2019???
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Learning Objectives

• define material self.

• gain insights on the statement, “I shop therefore I am.”
• identify the role of shopping in shaping one’s identity
• How do you find the activity?
• Among the five objects that you have chosen, what are the objects
that you are willing to let go? And what object you want to retain?
Why?
• How do you feel giving up the four objects? And retaining one
object?
• What have you learned from the activity?
Late 19th century…
• Pieced together a theory
of self that is remarkably
modern.

• In his book The Principles

of Psychology (1890), he
discusses the multiple
nature of the self.
WILLIAM JAMES
Radical note:
• “In its widest possible sense, however, a man's self is the
sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his
psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and
children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works,
his lands and horses, and yacht and bank account. All these
things give him the same emotions.”
William James Theory of Self
William James’ Theory of Self is divided into two main categories:
“ME” Self refers to the aspects of someone that come from that
person's experiences.

‘I’ Self is the thinking self

• James subdivide the “ME"
Self into three sections:

• The Material Self

• The Social Self
• The Spiritual Self.
Material self
is consists of things that
belong to us or that we belong
to. Things like family, clothes,
our body, and money are some
of what makes up our material
selves.
The Material Self

Refers not only to the

body of a man but as well
as his closest possessions
and relatives

#TheMaterialSelf
For the material self, objects helped make the person
but they also showed what that person was made of.
It means the use and display of wealth remains
powerful and controversial, and nowhere more so
than for the super rich.

#TheMaterialSelf
Luxury has evolved throughout history because of
change in the value systems and cultural contexts.

Luxury can be a sign of distinction.

 It can be a commodity.
 “I shop,
therefore I am”

#TheMaterialSelf
“I shop therefore I am”
• Initiated by Barbara Kruger, an american artist whose
pop art often deals with consumerism and feminism.
• Barbara’s statement stemmed from Descartes’
philosophy of
“I think therefore I am”.
Economical Perspective

• The primary way of that people relate to each other is as consumers.

• For instance, people show their love by spending money on each other

• Commerce, while not being everything, is strongly present in most, if

not all, important aspects of life, and thus affects those aspects in its
image
Psychological Perspective

• People who don’t have a strong sense of who they are long for an
identity.

• Creating that sense of identity is at the heart of contemporary

advertising.
“By shopping, people validate their own sense
of who they wish they were”

#TheMaterialSelf
The role of consumer culture in one’s
identity

• The Self is a psychological construct that denotes who and what we

are (Rathneshwar & Se, 2012).

• The structure of the self was organized as a result of interaction with

the environment.

• As the individual received reactions from his environment, his self-

concept is formed
Self-Concept

• “the totality of the individual’s thoughts and feelings having reference

to himself as an object.”

• Basically self-concept is how people understand, think about and

represent themselves (Leary & Tangney, 2003).
• Previous studies have emphasized the significance of self-concept and
consumer preference, as purchases made by consumers were directly
influenced by the image individuals had of themselves.

• Self-image congruity
the process of consumers purchasing products/brands that they perceived as
possessing symbolic images similar to the image they hold of themselves.
• The greater the congruity between human characteristics that exhibit
consumers’ senses of self and the characteristics that depicted a
brand, the greater the consumers’ preferences were for the brand (Sung,
Choi & Tinkman, 2012).
Advantages of Shopping

1. Long life for Sale

2. Relaxation and escape

3. Social connection

4. The pleasure boost of creativity and aesthetics

Disadvantages of Shopping
1. May lead to compulsive buying

2. People lifestyles may change from simplicity to lavishness

full of material comforts.

3. May serve as a distraction to avoid other important issues.