Tim Kasser The High Price Of Materialism

Everyone wishes to own that one pair of designer jeans. A mystical fabric said to solve any problem. Name-brand jeans always deliver pure happiness; if only that was the case. Some individuals believe that owning possessions is the only way to prevail in life. According to Tim Kasser who was a psychology professor at Knox College, and the author of “The High Price of Materialism”, many upper-class citizens have associated high-quality life with “attaining materialistic goals”. An individual in this state of mind has a problematic time in life and often fails at meeting their psychological needs. In society, emotional experiences and the development of social skills are essential benchmarks. Often times, humanity wants to purchase emotional …show more content…
Instead of going to the park with a loved one, possession-driven people will go to a sale or get a new product. They wait for merchandise because they believe the item will last longer than a heartwarming experience. It all boils down to whether people, “remember the family trip to Patagonia or the new jacket bought in preparation for it” (Onderko). Humans with materialistic values believe they will be satisfied with a product and their needs will be fulfilled. However, experiences “meet more of our underlying psychological needs” (Blackman). This explains why experiences last longer in our memories compared to a store product fleeting happiness. Also, horrible accidents that cost the owner everything they have gained, can easily destroy items. Since these people have given up the majority of their life to concentrate on getting possessions, and lost sight of gaining experiences. Society believes that bought goods will last forever when, in reality, a major experience will still be remembered even when the possessions are long gone (Blackman). Recurrently, someone with materialistic values does not have the ability to fully experience life because, they are so focused on owning objects, that could possibly become lost or …show more content…
Materialism causes people to neglect goals and relationships. When humans become unfocused, crippling depression can occur. In the pursuit of more information, the discovery was made that, “researchers think materialism is associated with unhappiness because it distracts people from personal growth and collective values like family and friendship” (Zimmerman). When people are focused on buying items they forget about the need of personal improvement and relationships. When the public is worried about possessions, it becomes facile to have bad relationships with no sentimental meaning behind them. Materialistic people lack effective “interpersonal relationships” (Zimmerman). A person who lacks proper social skills fails to find adequate friends and experience true life-changing moments. “Materialistic individuals are more self-conscious in public and experience more social anxiety” since they are focused on finding certain possessions and what other people perceive of them (Zimmerman). Materialistic people often find substantial conflicts in public due to their complete focus on personal possessions. This struggle in society is caused by a lack of improved social

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