UTS REVIEWER

THE MATERIAL SELF

Why do we buy?
Limbic System: Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland, Amygdala, Hippocampus
Hypothalamus: I need that
– regulates body temperature, circulation rhythms and hunger, helps govern the endocrine
system.
Amygdala: I want that
Prefrontal Cortex: judgment and decision making

Sigmund Freud “We are pleasure seeking organisms.”

Abraham Harold Maslow - a psychologist studied positive human qualities and the lives of
exemplary people.
- Created the Hierarchy of Human Needs in the book “Motivation and Personality”
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

 Self- Actualization
 Esteem
 Love/Belonging
 Safety
 Physiological

Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) – conditioned to buy from advertisements, sales and other promos.

Operant Conditioning (BF Skinner) – conditioned to buy things we found effective or rewarding.

Motivation – motivation to buy may be extrinsic (gain from fame/popularity) or intrinsic (fulfillment/
satisfaction)
What do our possessions mean?

Belk (1988) – a key to understanding what possessions mean is recognizing that, knowingly or
unintentionally, we regard our possessions as parts of ourselves.

The Self and our Possessions

- Treating ourselves as extensions of ourselves is not a new phenomenon.

- Can contribute to feelings of well-being as well as feelings of emptiness and vulnerability.
- Overreliance may be manifested on how we shop, care for things we acquire and which we cling
to our possessions rather than discard them.
- Materialism defined as “the importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions”
- Possessions assume a central place in person’s life
- Purchases of consumer goods offer the potential for magical transformation of self.

Possessions as part of Self

- Such objects act as confirmers of our identity

- Where men to value for self-focused and instrumental reasons while women tend to emphasize
expressive and other-oriented reasons
- Reminders of our past, present, and future
- Instrumental to development of our sense of self
- Makes things by creating of altering them
- Purchasing objects
- Objects literally extends self
- Symbolically extend self

Mastery of Possession and Human Development

- Emphasis on material possessions tends to decrease with age, but remains high throughout life
- Provides a sense of past and tells us who we are, where we came from, and perhaps where we
are going
- Seek identity through acquiring and accumulating selected consumption objects
- (Study of aged 8-30 years old) favorite possessions those that either reflect skills in use or
possessor can manipulate or control
- (Preretirement Adulthood) defining self through what one has
- (40-50 years old) social power and status as reasons to own personal possessions.

(Possessions most treasured by grandparents) to have one’s possessions, “live on” through heirs or
museums.
 THE SPIRITUAL SELF
Why do we need to understand our Spiritual Self?
- Philosophy started the moment humans started to wonder (with just about anything)
- Human questioned like “why do we die? Why do bad things happen to good people? Do
we really have free will? Is the determined? Does God exist?”
- College students: it is vital to develop a healthy sense of wonder (human belief systems)
Religion VS Spiritual: Similarity and Difference

RELIGION
Paths to God
Definition A personal set of institutionalize
system of religious attitudes, beliefs,
and practices.
Person Someone who believes in a God or
group of gods and consciously
adheres to the beliefs of his/her
religion.
Approach Fear, emphasis on sin, guilt, and the
concept of a punishing God.
Beliefs God is high up in the heavens.
Separate being from human.
Paths Only way to salvation is in their
religion and not with others.
SPIRITUAL
Approaches
Relating to or affecting the human
spirit or soul as oppose to material
of physical
Someone who places little
importance on beliefs and traditions
and is more concerned with the
growing and experiencing Divine.
Path of love. Path with no
condemnation and judgment, but
where there is mercy and
acceptance.
God is omnipresent, omniscient, and
omnipotent.
All faith is valid, embraces all the
world’s religions, but all the same
time not constrained by any other
religious dogmas or forms.

The Practice of Religion

Steven Reiss (1900) – religion attracts so many followers because it satisfies all 16 basic desires
that human share (The 16 Striving Gods, 2016) are follows:

 Acceptance  Power
 Curiosity  Romance
 Eating  Saving
 Family  Social contact
 Honor  Status
 Idealism  Tranquility
 Order  Vengeance
 Physical activity
 - Reiss claimed that we are all the same but what makes us different is how we value each
one.
- Religious beliefs are designed to meet these 16 desires.

The Four Dimensions of Religion (Dawson and Theissen, 2014)

1. Belief;
2. Ritual;
3. Spiritual experience; and
4. Unique social forms of community

Why is Spirituality important?

 Spiritual practices are associated with better health and well-being.

 Sense of meaningless and lack of purpose in life can be significant factors in causing
anxiety, depression, and phobias.
 Spiritual fellowship can be a source of social support that may provide sense of
belonging, security, and community.
 Contemplating practice – a method to develop concentration, deepen understanding
and insight, and cultivate awareness and compassion.
 Meditation – mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of
spiritual awareness. Can induce feelings of calm and clear-headedness, as well as
improved concentration and attention.
 Prayer – a spiritual communication with God as in supplication, thanksgiving,
adoration, or confession. Prayer may elicit a relaxation response, along with feelings
of hope, gratitude, and compassion which has a positive effect on overall well-
being.
 Yoga – a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline. It teaches the suppression of all mind
and body activity so that the self may realize its distinctions from material world
and attain liberation.
 Journaling – a practice that can help you become more aware of your inner life and
feel more connected to your experience and the world around you.

Sacred Pathways written by Gary Thomas presents the nine sacred paths to connect with God
are the following:

 Naturalists: Loving God Out of Doors – surrounded by the beauty of nature.

  Sensates: Loving God with the Senses – engage your senses of sight, smell, and sound.
 Traditionalists: Loving God Through Ritual and Symbol – drawn to Book of Common
Prayer, liturgy, and observance of the church calendar, the sacraments, the ancient
songs, and creeds of the Church.
 Ascetics: Loving God in Solitude and Simplicity – love to left alone to pray and tend to
live a quiet life free of distractions that would hinder the worship of God.
 Activists: Loving God Through Confrontation – spiritually nourished by fighting for the
right like prayer walks, food pantries, crisis pregnancy centers, marches, etc.
 Caregivers: Loving God by Loving others – serve Christ by serving others like preparing
meals, counseling, volunteering at a shelter, tending the sick, or opening your home,
you feel closest to God.
 Enthusiasts: Loving God Through Mystery and Celebration – you love just to follow the
Spirit’s leading, celebrating God’s mysterious ways, and exclude gladness and wonder.

Finding and Creating Meaning

Viktor Emil Franki (1959) – introduced logotherapy, which is pursuit of one’s meaning of life.
o Theories founded on the belief of human nature is motivated by the search for
the purpose of life.
o These are influenced by his personal experience of suffering and loss in Nazi
concentration camps.
Basic Principles of Logotherapy:
1. Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
2. Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
3. We have freedom to find meaning in what we so, and what we experience, or at least in
the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.
According to Frankie, we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways:
1. By creating a work or doing a deed;
2. By experiencing something or encountering someone; and
3. By the attitude we take toward “unavoidable suffering” and that “everything can be
taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s
attitude in any given set of circumstances”.