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• Material self


  Not only consisting of one's own body but also includes different things one possesses from one's family and friends, such as clothes, house, cars, gadgets and even the amount of money in the bank
• William James


  • Father of American Psychology
  • Identified various components of the Empirical Self, including the Material Self
• According to James, the Material Self includes things one possesses from one's family and friends
• The Material Self Investment Diagram was influenced by the "Philosophy of Dress" of Herman Lotze
• Home


  The earliest nest of our childhood, where our heart is
• Immediate family


  We see them as a replica of ourselves, and what they do or become affects us
• Clothes


  When we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest that object into the consciousness of our personal existence, taking in its contour to be our own and making it a part of the self
• Body


  We strive hard to make sure our body functions well
• Rudolf Hermann Lotze


  • German philosopher and logician, had a medical degree and was well versed in biology
  • Argued that if the physical world is governed by mechanical laws, relations and developments in the universe could be explained as the functioning of a world mind
  • His medical studies were pioneering works in scientific psychology
• James' idea of the Material Self


  One can define themselves and at the same time defined by the people they are acquainted with through the accumulation of objects and achievements that person acquired from different endeavors and experiences in life
• We are what we have


  We regard our possessions as part of ourselves
• Russell W. Belk


  • American business academician, currently a Distinguished Research Professor and the Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing at Schulich School of Business, York University
  • The identification of the self to things started in our infancy stage when we make a distinction among self and environment and others who may desire our possessions
• Andrew Carnegie: 'Wealth is not to feed our egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves'
• As we grow older, putting importance to material possessions decreases
• David Rockefeller: 'Material things can contribute a lot to making one's life pleasant, but if you do not have very good friends and relatives who matter to you, life will be really empty and sad and material things cease to be important'
• Young people tend to place more importance on material possessions compared to experienced people
• Freddie Mercury: 'Money may not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it!'
• Jim Carrey: 'I hope everybody could get rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will know that it's not the answer<|>I realized now more than ever that the most valuable commodity in life is the feeling you get when you give. Compassion is the currency that leads to true wealth'
• Jim Carrey became homeless for a while after his father lost his job, but he believed in the law of attraction and visualized his success
• Material possessions gain higher value in our lifetime if we use them to find happiness, associate them with significant events, accomplishments, and people in our life
• The possessions we dearly have tell something about who we are, our self-concept, our past, and even our future
• A Christmas Carol


  • Scrooge is a rich, miserly man who does not feel connected to anyone or anything except his money
  • Jacob Marley, Scrooge's dead business partner, tells Scrooge that people should have not been his business in life, and that he has forged the painful chain he wears in death by his greed in material possessions
  • Bob Cratchit is the only person and employee of Scrooge who could stand his personality
  • Dickens uses the Cratchit family to highlight what a real Christian family is, full of love, caring and kindness, even though they are materially poor
  • Scrooge's redemption comes by way of visitation from three spirits who showed him images of what was, is, and will be
• Charles Dickens: 'I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all the Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.'
• A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a frigid Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas
• Ghost of Christmas Present

  • Majestic giant clad in a green fur robe
  • Shows Scrooge Christmas as it will happen that year
• Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come


  • Leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man's recent death
  • Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man's riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor couple expressing relief at the death of their unforgiving creditor
  • Scrooge is shocked to read his own name on the headstone
• Charles Dickens: '"I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all the Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."'
• Ghost of Christmas Past


  • Strange childlike phantom with a brightly glowing head
  • Escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from the curmudgeon's earlier years
• Ghost of Christmas Present


  • Shows Scrooge the large, bustling Cratchit family preparing a miniature feast in its meager home
  • Discovers Bob Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge's heart
  • Shows Scrooge his nephew's Christmas party
• Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit
• As the years go by, Scrooge holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart
• Material Self


  Consists of one's own body, possessions, family, friends, clothes, house, cars, gadgets, and money in the bank
• Material Self


  One defines themselves and is being defined by the people they are acquainted with along with the accumulation of objects and achievements
• Losing objects or people

  Renders one feel that a part of them was also lost
• The choices we make to achieve recognition of others depend not only on our own capabilities but more so on the value we and the other people give to what we have or can acquire</b>
• Having the ability to find the things that will define yourself that will persist through time, where your life and achievements both define who you are and what you are capable of and at the same time provide you with the direction and knowledge on what to prioritize will result to a more cohesive and easier establishment of who you are as a person and what you want to be in life