Materialistic Values and Environmental Challenges

1. Materialistic Values and Environmental Challenges Tim Kasser, Ph.D.

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Ecological Damage

6. 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)

7. 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

8. Tragedy of the Commons

9. Diminished HappinessKasser (2002) • Lower • Happiness • Life Satisfaction • Vitality • Higher • Anxiety • Depression • Substance Use • Physical Symptoms

10. Social Behavior • Care less about social justice, loyalty • Lower empathy • More Machiavellian & Competitive • Less pro-social behavior • More anti-social behavior

11. Two-fold Strategy Causes Mater- ialism

12. 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

13. Two-fold Strategy Healthy Values Causes Mater- ialism

14. 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

16. 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.”

17. Personal Well-being • More happiness • More life satisfaction • Higher vitality • Less depression • Less anxiety • Fewer physical symptoms

18. Social Well-being • More pro-social behavior • More empathy • More cooperation • Less antisocial behavior

19. Ecological Well-being • More environmentally friendly behaviors • Lower Ecological Footprint • Less consumption in forest dilemma game

20. Two-fold Strategy Healthy Values Causes Mater- ialism

21. Advertising • Designed to promote consumerism • Often creates feelings of insecurity • Presence everywhere promotes social norm that consumerism is good

22. Advertising -Directions Remove ads from public places Ban advertising to children Tax advertising as a form of pollution Use revenue to promote intrinsic values

23. 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

24. 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

25. Voluntary Simplicity • Rejection of work-spend lifestyle • Instead focus on “inward riches” of caring about personal growth, family, volunteer activity, and ecology (Elgin, 1993)

26. High Well-being VS Lifestyle Ecologically Responsible Behaviors

27. High Well-being High Intrinsic & Low Materialistic Values VS Lifestyle Ecologically Responsible Behaviors

28. Voluntary Simplicity - Directions • Explore ideas about happiness and values, then educate about Voluntary Simplicity • Use established programs • Your Money or Your Life • Simplicity Circles

29. 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

30. Gross Domestic Product vs. Genuine Progress Indicator

31. 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

32. 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.”