What Psychology Says About Materialism and the Holidays — APA interviews Tim Kasher

Well-being is inversely correlated with materialism.

APA: What does psychological research say about materialism’s link to happiness? 

Kasser: The connection between materialism and well-being is the longest-standing strand of research in the materialism literature. My colleagues at the University of Sussex and I recently published a meta-analysis that showed the negative relationship between materialism and well-being was consistent across all kinds of measures of materialism, types of people and cultures. We found that the more highly people endorsed materialistic values, the more they experienced unpleasant emotions, depression and anxiety, the more they reported physical health problems, such as stomachaches and headaches, and the less they experienced pleasant emotions and felt satisfied with their lives.

The most supported explanation for why well-being is lower when materialism is high concerns psychological needs. Specifically, materialistic values are associated with living one’s life in ways that do a relatively poor job of satisfying psychological needs to feel free, competent and connected to other people. When people do not have their needs well-satisfied, they report lower levels of well-being and happiness, as well as more distress.

As Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs suggests. An economy is the material life-support system of a society but well-being only begins with material sufficiency. Material sufficiency is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for well-being. Material abundance is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for human well-being, regardless of the neoliberal propaganda and advertising to the contrary. There's more to living the good life in a good society than money and toys.

Happy Holidays!

American Psychological Association
What Psychology Says About Materialism and the Holidays
Six questions for materialism expert Tim Kasser, professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois

The Economic Normalcy Bias — David Sirota

In 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on an airstrip in the Canary Islands. According to accident investigators, those who survived the initial blast in one plane had time to escape before a fire consumed the wreckage. But eyewitnesses reported that many remained in their seat looking perfectly content--as if nothing was wrong.

Not surprisingly, dozens of these dazed victims were burned to death, and the episode became a reminder of the so-called normalcy bias--a cognitive phenomenon whereby many who are faced with imminent disaster instantly convince themselves that everything is normal and that they don't have to modify their behavior.

Unpleasant as this anecdote is to recount, it exemplifies the psychology at the root of one of America's most destructive traits: our obsession with materialism and consumerism. To extrapolate the metaphor, if our damaged economy, record-low savings rate and sky-high personal debt levels are that smoldering plane about to explode, then America's "shop till you drop" normalcy bias may be engineering yet another avoidable tragedy.

The most recent holiday binge exemplified the impending crisis. Despite persistent unemployment, flat wages and higher prices for necessities (food, health care, etc.), America nonetheless went on its usual post-Thanksgiving buying spree.

Read the rest at In These Times

The Economic Normalcy Bias
by David Sirota

"Obsession with materialism and consumerism" rots the human spirit. Sages of all times and climes were not being grinches when they cautioned against the corrosive effects, which are deadly for a culture as well as for individual aspirations based on enduring values. The so-called rational pursuit of maximum utility all too easily turns into what Keynes dubbed "animal spirits."