We live in a culture that relentlessly bombards us with messages
extolling the virtues of things. Have
you reserved an IPhone 7? Do you have an
IPhone 6? Well, then what type cellphone
do you have? Please don’t embarrass
yourself by telling me if you have a flip-phone.
How about your house? How many
bedrooms and bathrooms? Does your car
have a rear-view camera? Does it boast
rain-sensing windshield wipers that automatically turn on whenever it
“perceives” drizzle?
If you don’t have the latest and greatest, why not? Don’t you deserve the best? You are no less entitled than your
in-the-know colleagues, friends, and relatives, are you?
If you are materialistic, you must be young. After all, everybody knows that young people
feel entitled. Older persons have the
wisdom to know what is and is not important in life. Research undoubtedly would support the
age-materialism relationship, wouldn’t it?
Maybe not. At least that is what
Esther D. T. Jaspers and Rik G. M. Pieters (2016) discovered. Although they did confirm that people
generally believe youngsters are more materialistic than oldsters, the
carefully crafted research revealed more nuanced conclusions. Materialism did decrease from younger to
older ages, but it increased slightly again for persons approaching the oldest
ages. That is, materialism exhibited an
age-sensitive curvilinear relationship, being higher among the younger and
older subjects and lower among the middle-aged ones. As to the specifics, the desire to acquire
material goods declined from young adulthood to middle adulthood, with
55-year-olds as the least materialistic cohort.
Possession materialism, in which subjects defined success with reference
to their material goods, also decreased with age, reaching its nadir at about
age 62 and increasing slowly thereafter.
What are the implications then for materialism and life? Those who relentlessly pursue material goods
can become slaves to their acquisition avarice, and those who define success by
their “toys” are enslaved as well. The
expression “everything that you own owns you” is worth your reflection.
Materialism encourages us to become item competitive with others in our
reference groups, and it instigates stress by driving us to work excessive
hours in order to buy goods that quickly lose their special appeal. Moreover, those who covet material items
become fixated on determining the items' economic values (Pchelina &
Howella, 2014) and determining economic value often is a vexing and virtually
impossible task. The more item choice we
have, the more overwhelming and even paralyzing choosing becomes (Swartz, 2005)
—another stressor inherent in our preoccupation with things.
Capitalistic culture promotes relentless materialism. Everyone of course needs and wants material
goods. There is nothing wrong with
that. But when lives are built around
materialism, serious problems result.
Regardless of our age, we need to refrain from acquiring for the sake of
acquiring. And we must resist the
temptation to define ourselves by our possessions. That can be a challenge for all, including
me.
References
Jaspers, E. & Pieters, R. (2016).
Materialism across the lifespan: An age-period-cohort analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. No Pagination Specified.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000092.
Pchelina, P. & Howella,
R. (2014). The hidden cost of value-seeking: People do
not accurately forecast the economic benefits of experiential purchases. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9, 4,
322-334.
Schwartz, B. (2005). The Paradox
of Choice: Why More Is Less. New York:
Harper.
.
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