Self-Conscious Emotions and Materialism

Abstract

The relationship between materialism and the self-conscious emotions (e.g., gratitude, shame, pride, and regret) was investigated with a sample of University students. Materialism was related to shame, regret, low gratitude, and hubristic pride. Shame was strongly associated with the envy component of materialism and was on the opposite end of a scale with gratitude. With pride, materialism was related to being conceited or snobbish versus having self-worth or a sense of accomplishment. The results are consistent with materialism having a weaker sense of self as hubristic pride involves a distorted, self-aggrandized sense of self, shame is associated with a sense of the self as defective, and regret is associated with the unhappiness of maximization rather than satisficing in decision making.

Keywords

materialism self-conscious emotions shame pride gratitude regret

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