Psychology and Social Issues

1
Psychologyand Social Issues

• Psychological meanings and functions of material
  possessions

2
Why material possessions?

• consequences of post WW2 social and economic
  changes
• traditional forms of identity construction
  through families and communities have lost
  strength
• disposable incomes and credit facilities have
  expanded
• acquisition and consumption of material goods
  have become major modern means of constructing
  and expressing identity

3
Transformation of consumer culture

• Mushrooming credit facilities
• Increase in personal disposable income
• Changing role and meaning of consumption

4
Why material possessions?

• examples of social science research on material
  goods (material culture studies)
• Projet du garbage (Hudson, 1984)
• the
  cemetery as cultural text
• (Vidutis
  Lowe, 1980)
• French literary movement of chosisme
• (e.g., Barbu, 1963)

5
What functions do material possessions fulfil
for people?
What do
material
possessions
mean to people?
6
Meanings and functions of material possessions
(Dittmar, 1992)
symbolic personal interpersonal social
functional labour-saving enabling
activities control, freedom
personal identity history qualities,
values, attitudes goals, skills life changes,
phases
interpersonal relationships romantic
family friends peers
social belonging social category subculture,
social group social status
7
How can we best explain the link between people
and material possessions?

• Three main groups of theoretical frameworks
• Biology (instinct, evolution, selection of genes)
• Instinct psychology
• Sociobiology
• Intra-individual (control motivation)
• Social constructionist (culture, symbols)
• Goods as identity symbols
• Consumer culture

8
Theoretical perspectives I

• biological
• instinct psychology
• The impulse to collect and hoard various objects
  is displayed in one way or another by almost all
  human beings, and seems to be due to a true
  instinct it is manifested by many animals.. it
  ripens naturally and comes into play
  independently of all training (McDougall,
  1908/1963, p. 75)
• sociobiology
• ...ownership and related phenomena are neither
  uniquely human nor dependent upon linguistic
  learning for expression and recognition...
  processes that humans share with other primates..
  must cause us to claim property and generally
  honor the claims of other social group members...
  The present perspective views possessive
  behavior and property as having evolved due to
  natural selection (Ellis, 1985, pp. 129-130)

9

• acquistive instinct or disposition
• has survival value, evolutionary advantage
• organism act to maximise the likelihood that it
  (or rather its gene pool) will survive
• human possessive behaviour and the general forms
  it takes should be universal
• continuity between human and animal possessive
  behaviour
• Evidence limited for a strong biological component

10
Types of evidence

• human-animal comparisons
• momentary control vs. true ownership
• possessive behaviour in children
• Collections (time and SES)
• cuddlies in different cultures
• possession-related behaviour in different
  cultures
• communal property in traditional, pre-capitalist
  societies
• Ithalmiut eskimos

11
Theoretical perspectives II

• control motivation
• possessions are important because they enable
  direct control of the physical environment, as
  well as social control of other people through
  regulating their use of, and access to, material
  objects they are closely linked to a sense of
  self because of this control dimension (Furby,
  1978, 1980)
• developmental theory
• cross-cultural and developmental interview study
  in USA and Israel (cities and Kibbutzim)
• when people are deprived of control
  (experimentally) they compensate by
  overemphasising the extent to which their
  possessions give them control and make them
  efficient and well-adjusted people (Beggan, 1991)
• neglects social and symbolic dimensions of
  material possessions

12
Theoretical perspectives III

• social psychological - self and identity
• material possessions have shared social meanings
• societal symbols, designer labels
• social group and subculture
• meanings shared with particular others
• material possessions can function as a
  quasi-language through with people express their
  sense of who they are (both to themselves and
  others)
• material symbols of identity types of evidence
• forming impressions of others
• cultural diversity

13
Perceived material wealth and first impressions

• experiment
• same person shown in different material
  surroundings affluent vs. not affluent
• four stimulus videos
• observers watch just one video and are asked to
  describe their impressions of the person shown
• expectations according to materialist society
  person is seen more positively when shown with
  expensive material possessions
• expectations according to social identity theory
  person is seen more positively when they have a
  material environment that is similar to that of
  the observer
• observers middle-class (public school) vs.
  working-class (comprehensive school) adolescents

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• impressions
• abilities (intelligent, successful)
• control
• forcefulness
• warmth
• individuality
• videos
• findings
• similarity
• affluent video - MC adolescents
• not affluent video - WC adolescents
• impressions
• no differences between WC and MC adolescents
• more favourable impressions when person appeared
  to be affluent
• exceptions person was perceived as warmer,
  friendlier and more expressive when less affluent

15
Favourite possessions in two different cultures

• Wallendorf Arnould (1988)
• residents in USA midwestern cities vs.
  inhabitants of a tribal subsistence community in
  Niger
• interviews, photographs, participant observation
  concerning peoples favourite possessions
• findings in US sample
• objects 50 of functional and entertainment
  items 50 of personal and decorative items
• reasons 60 symbolic aspects and personal
  memories
• gender differences
• men 60 functional/entertainment and 30
  personal/decorative objects more emphasis on
  functional and self-centred reasons
• women 30 functional/entertainment and 60
  personal/decorative objects more emphasis on
  interpersonal ties and emotional attachment as
  reasons

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• conclusions
• possessions are symbols of personal memories and
  individual identity
• for men individual identity is more separate and
  for women more relational
• findings in the Niger sample
• difficulties in understanding the notion of
  favourite possession
• objects were gender-segregated women - 85
  marriage and domestic goods men 50 religious
  and magical items, 30 tools and lifestock
• reasons
• magical and spiritual efficacy
• convertibility to cash
• prestige
• cultural ideals of beauty
• conclusions
• possessions function as symbols of social status
  and social identity