To Buy or

Not to
buy?
That is the Question!
PRESENTED BY:
JOEFREY GAGALA
INTRODUCTION:
 We are living in a world of sales and shopping spree. We are given a wide
array of products to purchase from a simple set of spoon and fork to owning a
restaurant. Almost everywhere, including the digital space, we can find
promotions of product purchase. Product advertisements are suggestive of
making us feel better or look good. Part of us wants to have that product. What
makes us want to have those products are connected with who we are. What
we want to have and already possesses is related to our self.
 Russel Belk (1988) stated that “we regard our possessions as part of our
selves. We are what we have and what we possess.” There is a direct link
between self identity with what we have and possess. Our wanting to have and
possess has a connection with another aspect of self, the Material Self.
Material Self
Willian James – “A man's self is the sum total of all what he can
call his”
(Principles of Psychology 1890) Understanding the self can be
examined through its different components:
 Constituents
 The feelings and emotion they arouse self-feelings
 The actions to which they prompt self seeking and self
preservation
SELF( Material Self Investment Diagram)

BODY

CLOTHES

IMMEDIATE
FAMILY

HOME
MATERIAL SELF INVESTMENT

 BODY- Intentionally, we are investing in our body. We are

directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live without.
We strive hard to make sure that this body functions well and
good. Any ailment or disorder directly affects us. We do have
certain preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain
body parts because of its value to us.
 CLOTHES- Clothing is an essential part of the material self.
Anytime 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.
Clothing is a form of self-expression. We choose and wear
clothes that reflect our self.
MATERIAL SELF INVESTMENT

 IMMEDIATE FAMILY- Our parents and siblings hold another great

important part of our self. What they do or become affects us. When an
immediate family member dies, part of our self dies, too. When their lives are
in success, we feel their victories as if we are the one holding the trophy. In
their failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in disadvantage
situation, there is an urgent urge to help like a voluntary instinct of saving
one’s self from danger. Replace huge investment in our immediate family
when we see them as the nearest replica of our self.
 HOME- Home 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. There was an old cliche about rooms: “If only walls can
speak.” The home thus is an extension of the self, because in it, we can
directly connect our self.
WE ARE WHAT WE HAVE
Russel Belk (1988) -We regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We are what
we have and what we possess.
As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases. However,
material possession gains higher value in our lifetime if we use material
possession to find happiness, associate these things with significant events,
accomplishments, and people in our lives. There are even times, when material
possession of a person that is closely identified to the person, gains
acknowledgement with high regard even if the person already passed away.
Examples of this are the chair in the dining room on which the person is always
seated, the chair will be the constant reminder of the person seated there; A well
loved and kept vehicle of the person, which some of the bereaved family
members have a difficulty to sell or let go of because that vehicle is very much
identified With the owner who passed away.