Relationship between Adolescent Materialistic Values and Self-transcendence Values in the New Era

Shenxin HU, Minzhang YU

College of Education and Psychology, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu 611130, China

Abstract In recent years, with increasingly abundant materials, the materialistic values are becoming more and more common in modern times.Some studies also revealed the relationship between materialism and self-enhancement values.Based on existing studies, this paper sorted out the relationship between materialism and self-transcendence values.Based on this, it came up with some new research directions and methods to improve the self-transcendence behavior of materialists, including using moral compensation to achieve the transformation from self-enhancement to self-transcendence, and using empathy to achieve the transformation from self-enhancement to self-transcendence.

Key words Social behavior, Social value, Social norms, Self-transcendence, Self-enhancement

1 Introduction

1.1 Materialistic valuesIn the academic circle, the most commonly accepted value theory is Richins and Dawson’s value theory on materialism: materialism is a personal value that emphasizes the possessiveness of material wealth[1].Some scholars believed that materialism has difference of degree, and not all materialists will exhibit negative behaviors.Some scholars put forward that materialists also exhibit some prosocial or proenvironmental behaviors, such as charitable donations, volunteer services, and green consumption.These indicate that the materialism is not entirely focused on Self-enhancement while ignoring self-transcendence.However, according to previous studies, the definition of materialism is not a single concept.Instead, it is a collection of traits[2], values, attitudes[3], and motivations[4]within a system framework, all of which include the pursuit of material enjoyment over self-enhancement.

1.2 Self-transcendence values and self-enhancement valuesSchwartz’s value cycle theory elaborates the relationship between self-transcendence values and self-enhancement values.He emphasized that self-transcendence values express people’s motivation to transcend narrow-mindedness, care for, enhance the well-being of others(both near and far), and protect nature.Self-transcendence values go beyond the concern for self-interest.They combine self-interest with the larger group, think that the group’s interest is more important, and it is easier for people with self-transcendence values to help others and care for the collective.Self-enhancement values express the strength of people’s motivation to enhance their own personal interests(sometimes even at the expense of others).Self-enhancement values care more about self-interest, and it is easier to make behaviors that can improve and enhance oneself[5].

2 Relationship between materialism and prosocial behaviors

Prosocial behavior is defined as voluntary behavior aimed at helping others[6].In some cultures, prosocial behavior is referred to as a subgroup of prosocial behaviors of altruism.Prosocial behavior is motivated by concern for others or intrinsic values, goals, and self-reward, not by expecting specific or social rewards or avoiding punishment.Previous studies have found that prosocial behavior is related to personal values, such as prosocial values[7]and self-transcendence values[8].Many studies have shown that materialism reduces prosocial behavior[9].Laboratory studies have also indicated that individuals motivated by materialism are subsequently less likely to help others[10-11].According to the value conflict theory[12], materialism believes in self-enhancement values, while prosocial values believe in self-transcendence values, which are in conflict with each other.This explains why materialism does not coexist with prosocial behavior from a values perspective.However, Yang Zhixuetal.[13]found that materialists show different preferences for prosocial behavior when facing different objects.Therefore, we will sort out materialists’ preferences for prosocial behavior objects from three different objects: peers, friends, relatives, and strangers.

2.1 PeersSome scholars found that if students in a class have higher materialistic values, there will be more events bullying in the class.Individuals with high materialism may pay more attention to their own material wealth level and less consideration of their peers’ feelings in peer interactions, and at the same time have a reduced sense of social responsibility, leading to conscious or unconscious class bullying[14].

2.2 StrangersAccording to studies of some scholars, there is a positive correlation between materialistic values and unethical work behaviors[15].Unethical work behavior refers to the use of unfair competition means to obtain market benefits and make huge profits.This study believes that unethical work behavior is a typical non-prosocial behavior.The targets of these unethical work behaviors are mostly strangers who have no intimate relationship with the actors.The targets of these unethical work behaviors are mostly strangers who have no intimate relationship with the actors.Some unethical workers even specially remind people(family, friends)who are in close relationship with them not to be "deceived".Mammon worship is a distinctive feature of materialists.Tang Liping and Chen Jiayu studied the relationship between mammon worship and unethical work behaviors with a sample of college students.The results show that the unethical work behaviors of people with mammon worship psychological type are significantly more than those of non-mammon worship psychological type[16].In a study of Americans, scholars such as Mathur found a positive relationship between materialism and charitable donations to strangers.Mathur stated that Americans seek both material comforts and the idea of generosity, such as they will both enjoy material things and donate generously.There are many such examples in China.Some people not only pursue material enjoyment, but also choose to volunteer and donate money to poor mountainous areas.The material scarcity has been proved to be one of the most important reasons for the formation of materialistic tendencies[17].Therefore, materialists due to material scarcity may be more able to empathize with people in poor areas, resulting in more prosocial behaviors, such as donations, volunteering,etc.This is also an issue that needs further research in the future.

2.3 Family membersA longitudinal study found that materialism played a large role in adolescents’ shifts in prosocial behavior toward friends and strangers, but had little effect on shifts in prosocial behavior toward family members.In other words, materialism does not lead to non-prosocial behavior toward family members.A relational approach to prosocial development emphasizes that adolescents’ prosocial behavior toward family members is more dependent on parenting styles and parent-child attachment and may not require as strong empathy motivation as prosocial behavior toward individuals outside the family[18-19].

2.4 SummaryExtensive studies have shown that materialism has a negative impact on prosocial behavior.As a matter of fact, however, depending on the object, the prosocial behavior displayed by materialists is inconsistent, especially the "special preferential treatment" of family members.The current research has not conducted an in-depth discussion on the mechanism of such a difference, and it is hoped that more scholars will explore its formation mechanism in the future.

3 Relationship between materialism and proenvironmental behavior

In recent years, researchers have become more interested in the relationship between materialism and proenvironmental behavior, which refers to behaviors that can reduce environmental harm and improve environmental quality[20].Schwartz mentioned in his early materialism and basic value theory of environmental behavior that the self-enhancement values associated with materialism(e.g.hedonism, power, and achievement)are opposite to self-transcendence values associated with environmentalism(e.g.universalism and benevolence).Findings of Kasseretal.[21]also found that materialists regard goods and money as the center of their lives, and they are generally indifferent in terms of social responsibility and environmental awareness.Some studies have found that materialistic values play a full mediating role between social class and proenvironmental behaviors.Specifically, materialistic values can negatively affect proenvironmental behaviors[22].Hurstetal.[23]also concluded that there is a negative correlation between materialism and environmental attitudes and behaviors after a meta-analysis of a large number of existing studies related to materialism and environmental behavior[23].However, scholars such as Tang Yihui found that material values can stimulate certain environmental behaviors by regulating the influence of environmental knowledge on environmental behaviors.Tang Yihui believed that this counterintuitive finding is directly consistent with the theory of moral compensation.Specifically, self-awareness can increase awareness of an individual’s role in environmental damage through material behavior, leading to the need for moral compensation and increased environmental behavior[24].Pandelaere found that materialistic consumption is not necessarily harmful, and the outcome depends on each individual’s motivation.Green consumption behavior can express and show oneself to others[25], thereby promoting the production of proenvironmental behavior.This is consistent with the motivational theory of materialism, proving that materialism under different motivations can have completely different effects.

4 Conclusions and prospects

Looking at the behavior of materialists from the perspective of self-values, it can be found that the self-values of materialists coexist, that is, there are both self-enhancement values and self-transcendence values.In other words, materialists are not entirely concerned with self-material enjoyment and not on external development.Materialists also exhibit self-transcendence(altruistic)behaviors such as prosocial or proenvironmental behaviors to a certain extent, which is possibly due to empathy(charitable giving)to the motivation of unmet internal needs, or possibly due to a self-presentation(green consumption behavior)that stems from seeking a sense of security for external recognition.In addition, different results can be seen from different types of materialism with different motivations.In a study on the sharing economy, Li Feietal.[26]mentioned that instrumental materialism has a significant positive impact on willingness to participate in sharing through the complete mediation effect of economic value, social value and emotional value; ultimate materialism has a significant negative direct effect on willingness to share; however, through the masking effect of economic, social and emotional values, it has a positive effect on the willingness to participate in the sharing economy.

4.1 Enhancement approaches

4.1.1Using moral compensation to achieve the transformation from self-enhancement to self-transcendence.Research on materialism and proenvironmental behaviors suggests that highly materialistic individuals who believe in environmental values can justify these opposing values through a mechanism that social psychologists call moral compensation.These people use environmental behaviors to "offset" or "balance" material behaviors in order to achieve an ideal moral self.Therefore, if the moral education of materialists can be enhanced in school or home education, and their moral compensation psychology can be enhanced, it is possible to increase self-transcendence behaviors to a certain extent and weaken the negative effects of materialism.

4.1.2Using empathy to achieve the transformation from self-enhancement to self-transcendence.Empathy ability is one of the most important influencing factors of prosocial behavior or proenvironmental behavior.Besides, some researchers have found that empathy can link materialistic values and self-transcendence values[27].To a certain extent, materialists and people in need share the same lack of material resources, so materialists’ lack of empathy for other people’s materials may lead to their prosocial behavior.Therefore, when collecting donations or asking for help, showing more of what groups in need of help have in common with materialists may lead to more prosocial behaviors of materialists.

4.2 ProspectsScholars have carried out extensive studies to prove whether the relationship between materialism and self-transcendence values is positive or negative, but few studies have delved into the mechanism by which this relationship arises, and almost all have speculated about it.In view of this, we proposed the following research directions.

4.2.1Influence mechanism of materialists on family members’ prosocial behavior.Previous studies have found that materialism has a significantly lower impact on family members’ prosocial behavior than strangers and friends.This may be due to the fact that high materialists are more likely to feel competitive over their peers[13].In addition, due to various factors such as parent-child attachment, family upbringing and moral compensation, the prosocial behavior of family members is not affected.Therefore, it is necessary to examine the influence mechanism of materialism on family members’ prosocial behavior.It can be expected that materialists with higher parent-child attachment or moral compensation will exhibit more family prosocial behaviors.At the same time, we can further examine whether such an influence mechanism is only applicable to family members and if high materialists’ moral compensation psychology will improve their self-transcendence behavior.

4.2.2What is the source of materialist generosity to strangers? As mentioned above, materialists also have the willingness to donate or volunteer, which shows that materialism and self-transcendence values can coexist in some people.Some scholars believe that it may be due to the common antecedents of materialism and charitable donations that lead to the empathy of materialists, thus giving rise to donation behavior.Some scholars have also proposed that materialism is related to the guilty sense[28].Csikszentmihalyi and Halton divided materialism into instrumental materialism and ultimate materialism.Instrumental materialism refers to the acquisition of wealth as a means and tool to reflect personal value and achieve life goals, while ultimate materialism is to improve status by acquiring material wealth and gain recognition and praise from others[29].Theoretically speaking, the donation behavior of materialists may also be derived from tools and means to achieve goals.Therefore, it is feasible to consider further research on what is the mechanism of generosity of materialists, and further explore whether materialists can use more empathy to alleviate society’s stereotypes of materialists.