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Materialism : Origins And Implications For Personal Well Being By Aaron Ahuvia

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Materialism explains the extent to which an individual is preoccupied with purchasing and showing off physical possessions that are mostly non essential.
Pieters examines the interrelationships between loneliness and three subtypes of materialism: acquisition centrality (where possessions enable hedonic pleasure seeking), possession-defined success (where possessions are a status symbol), and acquisition as the pursuit of happiness (where possessions are a material means to improving happiness). The study finds an inverse relationship between the latter two subtypes of materialism and loneliness, though the effect of loneliness on three subtypes was greater than was the effect of these on loneliness over time. Despite this seeking possessions for material possessions decreased loneliness and was unaffected by it.
The study (Materialism: Origins and implications for personal well-being by Aaron Ahuvia, University of Michigan and Nancy Wong, University of Michigan) confirms the generally established negative relationships between life satisfaction and materialism. Research in future needs to investigate more closely the nature of this relationship between the two. Particularly we need to know if materialism causes unhappiness and if does then how. The current research does in this direction gives us some hints. Evidences from the Matval scale shows that those people who place the utmost value on material possessions are the least satisfied with this area in their life. This

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