Why Materialism Makes You Unhappy

In the same vein as the post above, U.S. News and World Report's Alpha Consumer blog by Kimberly Palmer has an intriguing interview with Tim Kasser, author of The High Price of Materialism about how owning things may actually make you unhappy:

Why do you think that is the case, that people who are less materialistic are also more likely to be happier?

Our perspective on people's well-being is that it depends in large part on whether or not they have their psychological needs well satisfied.

That is, just like a plant needs to have a certain amount of water, a certain amount of light, and certain nutrients from the soil and air in order to survive and thrive, people have certain psychological needs that must be satisfied if they are to be healthy and thrive.

We propose four psychological needs. The first is safety/security, which is the need to feel like you'll survive, like you are not in danger, like you will have enough food and water and shelter to make it another day. The second is competence or efficacy, which is the need to feel like you are skillful and able to do the things that you set out to do: I need to feel like a good psychologist, you might need to feel like a good journalist, etc. The third is connection or relatedness, which concerns having close, intimate relationships with other people. The fourth need is for freedom or autonomy, which is feeling like you do what you do because you choose it and want to do it rather than feeling compelled or forced to do it.

As I lay out in my book, The High Price of Materialism, people who put a strong focus on materialism in their lives tend to have poor satisfaction of each of these four needs. In part this is because of their development, but it also is because materialism creates a lifestyle that does a poor job of satisfying these needs. That is, a materialistic lifestyle tends to perpetuate feelings of insecurity, to lead people to hinge their competence on pretty fleeting, external sources, to damage relationships, and to distract people from the more fun, more meaningful, and freer ways of living life.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/alpha-consumer/2008/8/6/how-to-live-the-simple-life.html - via Curious Read


I'm pretty sure the reason most materialists are unhappy is because there are only so many materials to go around. Some materialists are extremely happy, because they have access to all the items they could possibly want.
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Interestingly enough, Seth Godin recently posted in a similar theme "When in doubt, (don't) follow the money."

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/when-in-doubt-d.html
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I hate these crappy people with their confused, puritanical notions and middle-class guilt. Poor people aren't happier with less stuff. People in poor countries aren't better off with less stuff. Owning less stuff isn't virtuous. Stuff is just stuff. I've got lots of stuff - thousands of things. Books, things I've made, music, electronics and kitchen stuff. It all make me happy because I need it all. They're all tools, in one way or another. And it's the bad mechanic who blames the tools...

What we're talking about is what's called veblen goods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_goods) - stuff that people pay too much money for because they believe it'll improve their social status. Maybe their mothers didn't breastfeed them or something. If you think that buying something's going to make you happier, and you're disappointed when it doesn't, don't blame the stuff. Blame your own fool self.
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Geez, Chris Gregory. There's no need to hate people just because they don't see things the way you do. I'm glad you're happy with all the stuff you "need". But your experience isn't everyone else's experience.
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It's really a matter of material vs spiritual needs. People are fullfilled more spiritually in life don't need a lot of material BS to get through their days.
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I have things I enjoy having and using, mostly for entertainment (music, video games) but for a couple of years I lived with no tv, no computer, etc. and I must say despite being quite poor, I did enjoy the time. I feel like I was able to separate myself from the life I led and concentrate on being me. It sounds like crap, but there is a certain satisfaction that can be had by removing yourself from the things that you think you can't live without.
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@Chris Gregory: people in "poor" countries _become_ unhappy once we in the West show them all the good "stuff" that they don't have . We tell them that our great things are the markers of success, power, and happiness.

As for us in relation to this post, we'll never learn.
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Now you've made me update my doodle to reflect the impact of money on happiness!

http://leesvoice.blogspot.com/2008/08/updated-motivation-and-happiness.html
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