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LESSON 2: To Buy or Not To Buy That Is The Question!

This document discusses how our desire to purchase products is connected to our material self according to William James' theory of the self. It identifies the material self as consisting of our body, clothes, immediate family, and home. It asserts that we see our possessions as extensions of ourselves and that they express our self-concept and identity. Purchasing products allows us to invest objects into our consciousness of personal existence and make them part of our self.

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Mae Ann Tomimbang Maglinte
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4K views

LESSON 2: To Buy or Not To Buy That Is The Question!

This document discusses how our desire to purchase products is connected to our material self according to William James' theory of the self. It identifies the material self as consisting of our body, clothes, immediate family, and home. It asserts that we see our possessions as extensions of ourselves and that they express our self-concept and identity. Purchasing products allows us to invest objects into our consciousness of personal existence and make them part of our self.

Uploaded by

Mae Ann Tomimbang Maglinte
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LESSON 2: To buy or not to buy… That is the question!

INTRODUCTION

We are living in a world of sale and shopping spree. We are given a wide array of products to purchase
and almost everywhere, we find promotions of different products. Part of us wants to have that products.

Our wanting to have and possess has a connection with another aspect of our self --- the MATERIAL
SELF.

COMPONENTS OF THE SELF (William James, The Principles of Psychology)

1. Its constituents.
 the material self
 the social self
 the pure ego
2. The feelings and emotions they arouse --- self-feelings.
3. The actions to which they prompt, self-seeking and self-prevention.

MATERIAL SELF

The material self is primarily about: our bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home.

A. Body
 The inner part of our material self.
 We are directly attached to commodities that we cannot live without.
 We strive hard to make sure that our body functions well and good.
B. Clothes
 Placed in the second hierarchy of material self.
 Clothing is a form of self-expression.

According to 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 our own and
making it part of the self."

C. Immediate Family
 Our parents and siblings hold another part of our self.
 We see them as the nearest replica of our self.
D. Home
 It is where our heart is.
 The earliest nest of our Selfhood.

POSSESSIONS

As James (1890) described self: “a man's self is the sum total of all what he CAN call his.”

Russel Belk (1988) posits that, “we regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We are what we have
and what we possess.”
Possession then become a part or an extension of our self.

The possessions that we clearly have tell something about who we are, our self-concept and even our
future.

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