Materialistic Values and Environmental Challenges

Tim Kasser, Ph.D.

Materialism

• Can purchase happiness• Important to work and consume• Financial profit and economic growth are

main priorities• Life is meaningful and people are

successful to the extent they have money, possessions, and the right image

Measuring Materialism

• Survey methods (e.g., Belk, 1985, Richins & Dawson, 1992)

• Rate agreement with statements• Sample Items

– My life would be better if I owned certain things I don’t have.

– I like to own things that impress people.– I like a lot of luxury in my life.– I would rather buy something I need than borrow it from

someone else.

Measuring Materialism

• Values strategy (e.g., Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996)• Rate many goals, guiding principles, (e.g., family,

spirituality, fun, etc.)• Sample materialistic items

• You will have a job that pays well

• You will have many expensive possessions

• You will achieve the “look” you’ve been after

• You will be admired by many people

• Examine relative importance of goals

Ecological Damage

Ecological Outcomes

• Care less about the environment– Saunders & Munro (2000); Schwartz (1994)

• Fewer pro-environmental behaviors– Brown & Kasser (2005); Gatersleben et al. (in prep);

Kasser (2005); Richins & Dawson (1992)

• Higher Ecological Footprints– Brown & Kasser (2005)

Tragedy of the Commons

• Sheldon & McGregor (2000) assigned people to one of three groups:– All high materialistic– 2 high/ 2 low materialistic– All low materialistic

• Played a forest-management game• High materialist groups harvested more forest

more quickly

Tragedy of the Commons

Diminished HappinessKasser (2002)

• Lower– Happiness

– Life Satisfaction

– Vitality

• Higher– Anxiety

– Depression

– Substance Use

– Physical Symptoms

Social Behavior

• Care less about social justice, loyalty

• Lower empathy• More Machiavellian &

Competitive• Less pro-social

behavior• More anti-social

behavior

Two-fold Strategy

Mater-ialism

Causes

Causes of Materialism(Kasser et al. 2004)

• Social Modeling– Higher if friends, parents, peers care– Higher if more television– Higher if liberal capitalism

• Insecurity– Higher if cold parenting, divorce– Higher if poverty– Higher if thinking of death or hungry

Two-fold Strategy

Mater-ialism

Causes HealthyValues

Healthy ValuesGrouzet, Kasser et al. (2005)

• Assessed aspirations in 11 domains– e.g., Spirituality, Hedonism, Affiliation, Health,

etc.

• >1800 College students in 15 nations

• Circular Stochastic Modeling– Adjacent goals are consistent– Opposing goals are conflictual

Self-transcendence

Physical self

Extrinsic Intrinsic

Spirituality

Community

Affiliation

Self-acceptance

Physical health

SafetyHedonism

Financialsuccess

Image

Popularity

Conformity

Intrinsic ValuesKasser & Ryan (1996)

• Self-acceptance“I will follow my interests and curiosity where

they take me.”

• Affiliation“I will express my love for special people.”

• Community Feeling“I will help the world become a better place.”

Personal Well-being

• More happiness• More life satisfaction• Higher vitality• Less depression• Less anxiety• Fewer physical

symptoms

Social Well-being

• More pro-social behavior

• More empathy• More cooperation• Less antisocial

behavior

Ecological Well-being

• More environmentally friendly behaviors

• Lower Ecological Footprint

• Less consumption in forest dilemma game

Two-fold Strategy

Mater-ialism

Causes HealthyValues

Advertising

• Designed to promote consumerism

• Often creates feelings of insecurity

• Presence everywhere promotes social norm that consumerism is good

Advertising -Directions

• Remove ads from public places

• Ban advertising to children

• Tax advertising as a form of pollution

• Use revenue to promote intrinsic values

Goal FramingVansteenkiste et al (2004)

• Subjects - education students• Asked to read a text on recycling framed either:

– Intrinsic - would benefit community– Materialistic - would save money

• Those with Intrinsic frames:– Learned for more autonomous reasons– Learned material more deeply– Were more likely to visit library to learn more– Were more likely to go on later trip to recycling plant

Goal Framing

• Important implications for social marketing• Beware connecting environmental behavior to

materialistic aims because doing so:– Reinforces materialistic values, which are bad for the

environment– In and of itself leads to lesser motivation

Voluntary Simplicity

• Rejection of work-spend lifestyle

• Instead focus on “inward riches” of caring about personal growth, family, volunteer activity, and ecology (Elgin, 1993)

VS Lifestyle

High

Well-being

Ecologically

Responsible

Behaviors

VS Lifestyle

High Intrinsic &

Low Materialistic

Values

High

Well-being

Ecologically

Responsible

Behaviors

Voluntary Simplicity - Directions

• Explore ideas about happiness and values, then educate about Voluntary Simplicity

• Use established programs– Your Money or Your Life– Simplicity Circles

National Indicators of Progress

• Currently Gross Domestic Product is dominant• Alternative indicators include metrics of intrinsic

values in computation• Examples:

– National Well-being

– Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness

– Happy Planet Index

– Genuine Progress Indicator

Gross Domestic Product vs. Genuine Progress Indicator

National Indicators - Directions

• Adopt Alternative Indicators

• Hopefully, citizens will recognize that increases in GDP ≠increases in Quality of Life

• Thus, new policies will be developed

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented society” to a “person-oriented society.”