TO BUY OR
NOT TO BUY…
THAT IS THE QUESTION!
PSY 100
UNDERSTANDING THE
SLEF
INTRODUCTION
• “We regard our possessions as parts of
our selves. We are what we have and
what we possess.” (Belk, 1988)
– There is a direct link between self-identity with
what we have and possess.
– Our wanting to have and possess has a
connection with our Material Self
MATERIAL SELF
• William James, Harvard psychologist,
in his book “The Principles of
Psychology”:
– 3 components of the self
• Its constituents
• The feelings and emotions they arouse –
self-feelings
• The actions to which they prompt, selfseeking and self-preservation
CONSTITUENTS OF THE SELF
(Trentmann 2016; Green 1997)
• MATERIAL SELF
• SOCIAL SELF
• SPIRITUAL SELF
• PURE EGO
The MATERIAL SELF
BODY
• Inner most part of our material self
• We are directly attached to and that we cannot
live without it
• We strive hard to make sure that this body
functions well and good
• We have certain preferential attachment or
intimate closeness to certain body parts because
of its value to us
– People who get their certsin body parts insured, e.g.,
Mariah Carey (vocal cords and legs)
CLOTHES
• James believes that this is an essential part of
the material self - as influenced by “Philosophy
of Dress” by Herman Lotze
• “any time we bring an object into the surface of
our body, we invest that object into the
consciousness of our personal existence taking
in its contours to be pour own and making it part
of the self” (Lotze, Microcosmus)
• It is a form of self-expression
• We choose and wear clothes that are reflection
of our self (Watson, 2014)
FAMILY
• Parents and siblings hold another great
important part of the self
• What they do or become affect us
– When a member dies, a part of us dies too
– When in success, we feel their victories
– When in disadvantage situation, there is an
urge to help
• We place huge investment to our
immediate family when we see them as
the nearest replica of our self
HOME
• Home is where our heart is
• Earliest nest of our selfhood
experiences inside the home were
recorded and marked on particular parts
and things in our home
• “if only walls can speak”
• It is an extension of self because in it, we
can directly connect our self
• Having investment of self to things, made
us attached to those things
• The more investment of self is given to the
particular thing, the more we identify
ourselves to it
• “A man’s self is the sum total of all what he
CAN call his” (James 1980)
• Possessions then become part or a n
extension of self,