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A Snapshot of Five Materialism Studies in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Shaun A. Saunders
Shaun A. Saunders*
Affiliation:
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. [email protected]
*
*Address for correspondence: Shaun A. Saunders, PO Box 382, The Junction NSW.2291, Australia.

Abstract

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Our consumer-driven society is dependent upon economic growth and people's belief that acquiring possessions will make them happier. However, the present results suggest that materialistic values and behaviours might not be associated with psychological health or individual life satisfaction in Australia. This might be attributed in part to materialism being based largely on the process of social comparison. Furthermore, materialistic values and behaviours also do not appear to be congruent with either a love of life itself — biophilia — or environmental concerns. If materialistic persons are indeed more dependent on comparisons with others, then it might be reasonably hypothesised that they would also score lower on self-esteem, and this should be a direction for future research.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , 01 April 2007 , pp. 14 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007