THE MATERIAL

SELF “ TO BUY OR
NOT TO BUY”
I. The Material Self According to William
James

The material self, according to William James, pertains to the objects,

places, or even people which have the label “mine”. Such possessions are viewed
as extensions of individuals' identities.
I. The Material Self According to William
James

The material self refers to tangible

objects, people, or places that
carry the designation my or mine.
Two subclasses of the material self can
be distinguished: The bodily self and
the extracorporeal (beyond the
body) self. Rosenberg (1979) has
referred to the extracorporeal self as the
https://svoceanphoenix.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/possessions.jpg?w=640 extended self.
I. The Material Self According to William
James
Possessions serve a symbolic function; they help people define
themselves.
Possessions also extend the self in time.
Further evidence that possessions become part of the extended self comes from a series
of investigations on the “mere ownership effect” Beggan (1992).
The tendency to overvalue that which is “ours” even extends to letters
of the alphabet. When asked to judge the pleasantness of various letters, people
show enhanced liking for the letters that make up their own name, particularly their
own initials (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Jones, Pelham, Mirenberg, &
II. The Buyer
Decision Process
The buying decision process is the
decision-making process used by
consumers regarding the market
transactions before, during, and after the
purchase of a good or service. It can be
seen as a particular form of a cost–benefit
analysis in the presence of multiple
alternatives.
III.Commodity
Fetishism
Borrowing the notion of the fetish from
anthropology, where refers to
sacred
it or symbolic according a
to its worshippers object
supernatural power. that
has
Commodities are fetishes in this same
sense because by power of our belief in
them we create an obscure hierarchy of
value that rates a diamond over fresh
water (to use Adam Smith's famous
example from The Wealth of Nations
(1776), in spite of the fact that the
diamond serves little or no purpose.
IV. Consumer
Behavior Understanding how people make
decisions about what they want,
need, and buy is essential to
successful marketing because it
helps companies to predict how
consumers will respond to new
products.

https://truenorthcustom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/4-stages-consumer-behavior-blog.png
IV. Consumer
Behavior Consumer behaviour is affected by
psychological factors, such as a person’s
perception of what they need,
attitude, and their their
personal characteristics—someone’s
ability
habits, interests, opinions,
to and learn;
style of
decision-making—and social
considerations, including family, work
colleagues or school friends, and group
affiliations.
https://qtxasset.com/styles/breakpoint_sm_default_480px_w/s3/2
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IV. Consumer
Behavior Emotions are a huge factor in consumer
behaviour and decisions.
Companies evaluate valence (how
positive or negative the emotion is) and
arousal (how worked up the consumer is)
https://energyhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/EH-blog-influencer-marketing-
and-consumer-behaviors.jpg in as much detail as possible.
Consumers prefer to have choice, but not too
much.
Positive Emotion – when given just the right
amount of choice
Negative Emotion – when given too little or too
much options
 “A man’s material
self is the sum total
of all he can call his”
This includes his
body family and
reputation
Clothes and house.. His lands and
horses and yatch and bank
accounts”.
IF ONE’S MATERIAL POSSESSIONS
INCREASE THE POSSESSOR FEELS
TRIUMPHANT
EFFECT OF MATERIAL
POSSESSIONS
Curtis (2017) cited that
cash can have serious
bearing on
one’s belief regarding the way a
person views himself or
herself .
The following are evidences behind the
idea that money can truly change people:
value.
1. Social and Business value
Heyman and Ariely (2004) summised that there are
two motivations for completing a given task. The
first is social , by recognizing a task social value a
person sees it as a help out. When money is
offered as the motivation, however , people then
start thinking less of the social aspect and
more
about the business
2. Self Sufficiency and Service

Those who are conscious of money

typically strive to be more sufficient that
those for whom money isn’t a priority
3. Self View
The amount one earns could have an
effect on how he or she views
both himself or herself and others
4. Ethics
• Many addiction (not only on drugs) begin
because a person gets a positive response
from a certain type of behavior
POSSESSIONS AND THE EXTENDED
SELF
The premise that people regard their possessions as
parts of themselves is not new.

Goffman (1961) provides a thorough review of the

evidence of deliberate lessening of self
manifested in such institutions as mental hospitals,
homes for the aged, prisons, concentration camps,
military training camps, boarding schools, and
monasteries.

One of the first step in receiving new members into

these institution is to systematically deprive them
of all personal possessions including clothing,
money, and even names.
Handbag snatching can produce not only a
financial but also an emotional, long-term effect on
victims. Similarly, losing photographs of loved ones
that are often carried in a purse, may cause the
victims security impaired; they tend to distrust and
feel suspicious towards other people and develop a
fear of walking in public and even in a similar
environments.

Research has also found that victims sometimes

describe possessions as having high sentimental
value and being much more than functional.
Special Cases of Extended Self
1. Collections (I Shop Therefore I Am)
As Belk (1982) notes, humans and
animals once primarily assembled
collections of necessities for
distinction and self- definition. Collection
of this sort may be initiated by
gifts or other unintended
acquisitions, but 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
discretely time and money available to the
general population rather than just to
wealthy elite. (Mason 1981)
Luxury and Materialism are by
products of material self.
Materialism refers to the theory or
beliefs that nothing exists except
matter, its movement and its
modifications A tendency to
consider material possessions and
physical comfort is more important
than spiritual values.
I Shop Therefore I Am
A person is defined by what
he thinks , but by what he
owns.

Shopping is an expressive and

constitutive existential act.
People are created to be loved, and the
things were created to be used ; the reason
why the world is in so much chaos right
now is because people are being used and
things are being loved”.
2. Pets as Extended Self
Pets are regarded as representative of self
and studies show that we attempt to infer
characteristics of people from their pets.
Some people observe that like people, pets
regarded as family members. Regardless, it's
significant we name our pets, feed and care
for them, photograph them, spend money on
them, groom them, talk to them, protect them,
sleep and play with them and mourn their
death.
Levinson(1972) and Robin and Bensel
(1985) found that pets are so
instrumental to self identity that they
are often useful as transition objects
(surrogate parents) for children and
surrogate children for adults. These
observations suggest that pets can be
therapeutic in expanding the self of
children, hospital patient and the
elderly.
3. Body Parts as Extended Self

Body parts are among the most central parts

of the extended self. In psychoanalytic terms
such extension is called cathexis. Cathexis
involves the charging of an object, activity or idea
with emotional energy by the individual. The
concept
commonly most
has been applied to body parts and it
is known for instance that women tend to
cathect body parts to a greater degree than men
and that such cathexis reflect self acceptance.
When a body part is more highly cathected, there is
greater use of grooming products to care for this
part of the body.