Sunday, October 09, 2011

What if some people are better at materialism than others?

Some people think that money, or accruing material objects, doesn't lead to happiness. My personal experience is that it my money and my material possessions do make me happy. There are a lot of opinions about this in the world, but most of them (including what I've blogged previously on the subject) are rather absolutist, in that they assume it applies to everyone the same way.

But what if it doesn't?

The first possibility that comes to mind is that different people gain different degrees of happiness from materialism. But sometimes I hear people saying materialism doesn't lead to happiness in the first person, i.e. describing how they would purchase material goods thinking it would make them happy, but it didn't.

I've never had that happen to me. How does that even happen? How do you not know that something isn't going to make you happy, and how does this happen repeatedly?

Which leads to the second possibility: what if some people are better at materialism than others? What if some of us are good at judging in advance what material possessions will make us happy, whereas others are just purchasing stuff willy-nilly or are easily deluded regarding what will make them happy?

3 comments:

laura k said...

I think that when people say "money doesn't lead to happiness" there are some implied (unsaid) assumptions. "Beyond a certain comfort level" is one. On a very basic level, like if you don't have a decent place to live, money can buy a lot of happiness!

Another might be "if you're not happy already" - meaning if a person is miserable in their relationships, work, etc, buying a bunch of stuff probably won't change that.

I'm one of those "money doesn't buy happiness" people, yet if I had more money, I'd travel more, and that would make me much happier. I guess the saying is too over-simplified.

laura k said...

Also I do think some people are better at materialsim but that's probably because they are more self-aware - more in tune to their own desires and less affected by peer pressure and fashion - so they're buying what they really want rather than what they're told everyone wants.

Kellen said...

I've found that when I go ahead and make a purchase, I am often quite pleased with the results.

I think you're right - some people are better at judging in advance what will make them happy. You can see this on HGTV when people are looking at homes and suddenly focus on the "wrong" thing in a house. They end up making a decision based on something like granite countertops, rather than location, because they don't put the thought and foresight into knowing which of those is easier to live with on a daily basis, and change eventually.