Material Self Flashcards
Consists of things that belongs to a person or entities that a person belongs to
Material Self
These are important for survival.
Needs
Synonymous with luxuries
Wants
In the process of acquiring material goods, people generally consider two things,
Utility
Significance
concerned with the meaning assigned to the object.
Significance
concerned with how things serve a practical purpose
Utility
It is also concerned with how objects become powerful symbols or icons of habit and ritual which can be quite separate from their primary function.
Significance
“Father of American Psychology”.
William James
refers to tangible elements of the self.
Material Self
encompasses our interaction with our self and other people.
Social Self
reflects our values, morals and beliefs.
Spiritual Self
Composition of Material Self
Home
Immediate Family
Clothes
Body
the study of objects as signs;
Semiology
anything that conveys meaning.
Sign
one of the first to observe the relationship that people have with objects, and in particular looked at the objects as signs or things which could be decoded to convey messages beyond their practical value.
Roland Barthes
2 levels of functions of signs
Connotation
Denotation
involves meaning that are associated with or associated by the sign
Connotation
the literal meaning
Denotation
Two elements of signs
Signifier
Signified
It refers to the physical form
Signifier
It refers to the mental concepts it refers to
Signified
Suggests that material goods can fulfill a range of instrumental, social, symbolic and affective functions.
Theory of Meaning of Material Possessions
Different Instrumental Functions of Material Possessions
Social Symbolic Functions
Categorical Functions
Self-Expressive Functions
Signify personal qualities, social standing, group affiliation and gender
role
Social Symbolic Functions
Which material possessions may be used to communicate group membership or status.
Categorical Functions
Function that signifies a person’s unique qualities, values or
attitudes.
Self-Expressive Functions
Ways of incorporating possessions into the extended self
- appropriating or controlling an object for personal use.
- creating it
- knowing them.
An important omission in this list of modes is the acquisition of possessions of another person that have been intimately associated with that person.
Contamination
Objects or Materials as Process of Self-Extension
- Ways of Incorporating Possessions into the Extended Self
- Contamination
- Maintaining Multiple Levels of Self
when you pay more importance to material possessions than intangible values.
Materialism
psychological disorder for people who are obsessed with having
material possessions
Compulsive Buying Disorder
the pattern of consumption that describes the consumer.
Consumer Identity
preoccupation with and an inclination towards the buying of consumer goods.
Consumerism
the consumption of material goods and services in excess
of one’s basic needs.
Consumerism
encompasses our interaction with our self and other people.
Social Self
reflects our values, morals and beliefs.
Spiritual Self
