UTS Module 7

• William James


  The American philosopher and psychologist
•   The material self entails two subclasses such as the bodily self and the extracorporeal self or beyond the body self.
• The bodily component as the term suggests refers to the entities comprising our bodies.
• The extended self includes other people (e.g. my parents), pets (my puppy), possessions (my phone), places (my hometown), and the products of our labor (my recipe).
• James (1979) added that an entity can be identified as part of the self through our emotion and/or action towards it.
• Russel Belk (1988) in his work “Are We What We Own?”, suggests that material possessions act as an objective manifestation of the self. Material possessions can be a reflection of hard work and success.
•  Materialism – refers to giving more importance to material possessions than intangible values.
• Materialistic person – one who is excessively concerned with the acquisition of material possessions.
• compulsive buying disorder (CBD) which is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behaviors that can cause adverse consequences.
• Instrumental functions relate to the functional properties of a product
• Instrumental functions relate to the functional properties of a product.

  e.g. Jake bought a four-wheeler closed van for the delivery of their merchandise
• Social symbolic functions signify personal qualities, social standing, group affiliation and gender roles.

  e.g. Using branded bags and shoes
• . Categorical functions refer to the extent to which material possessions may be used to communicate group membership and status.

  e.g. Wearing organizational shirt
• Self-expressive functions reflect a person’s unique qualities, values or attitudes.

  e.g. Collecting items with Panda designs
• The emotion that an individual expects to feel when doing or buying something is called the anticipated affect
• Dittmar (1992, 2004) suggested that material goods can fulfill a range of instrumental, social, symbolic and affective functions.