There are those who base their entire lives on two very basic things: what they have and what they appear to have. This is the case of materialistic people whose way of life is increasingly promoted by a society obsessed with money and possessions.
Now… what are the characteristics that define materialistic people and how can they be recognized? Let’s see it below.
What are materialistic people like?
It must be taken into account that to assess the degree of materialism it is necessary to take into account the cultural and economic context in which one lives.
For example, there are those who, because they were born in a rich society, live surrounded by all kinds of products , without that meaning that he basically values ​​those kinds of comforts. On the other hand, you can be materialistic and live in a very poor family, as we will see.
That said, let’s move on to see what those traits and habits of materialistic people are.
1. They invest a lot in improving their appearance
Those who make their lives revolve around their resources, they see their own body as a part of their property and, therefore, they treat it as if it were a facade. In a way, they use their appearances as capital at their disposal to have more power and more possibilities to access better standards of living.
2. They value others according to their possessions
For the most materialistic people, The rest of the people have value based on what they have : a very expensive car, a good wardrobe, land or, simply, money. This is because they establish their socialization priorities based on the possibilities of having more assets by staying with these people. For example, even if someone appears to have no belongings, perhaps they are chosen as a friend because they have contacts with important people.
3. They always seek to have more
In theory, someone who is materialistic does not always have to aspire to have more things; Simply put, he should put possessions as a priority. However, in practice, the dynamics of consumerism that predominate today in our society He especially targets those who meet this psychological profile
This is why materialistic people can feel very anxious if they cannot access certain material goods. Likewise, they may plan purchases for months, so that in that time everything they do has to do with that objective. In short, their life goals revolve around possessions, leaving aside experiences or dealings with others.
4. They divide people into successful or unsuccessful
As we have seen, materialistic people establish the value of people according to what they have. They transform this into a general principle of life in which Wealth or poverty are indicators of success or failure Whoever enjoys many resources is someone successful, while whoever has nothing material or contacts (that is, the possibility of having resources in the short and medium term), has failed.
Thus, according to this point of view, each person is a project to get rich, so that some function according to objective parameters, while others do not.
5. They believe that wealth depends on individual decisions and own merits
From what we have seen above, this other characteristic of materialistic people is derived: They believe that what you have depends only on yourself despite the fact that this is not really the case (just look at the possibilities of living poor all your life simply for being born into a family from certain regions of the planet).
Thus, materialistic people are especially insensitive to those who have few resources, since they have an excuse to despise them: they have not tried hard enough, they have not taken it seriously, they have been unambitious, they have little talent, etc.
6. They invest in the brand, not so much in the profit
In order to appear more, materialist logic says that Sometimes it is better to invest money in the brand than in the usefulness of a product since this is easily recognizable by everyone and is associated with certain sensations and ideas that, supposedly, speak about oneself.
Of course, companies know this fact, and take advantage of it to inflate prices, sometimes far above production costs, to exploit that virtual value subject to the desire for appearance.
Curiosity: tendency to depression
Although it is not a trait that can be easily identified in materialistic people, it is also known that they have a greater tendency towards depression. The reason for this, it seems, is that They invest too much effort in obtaining everything they want to possess making your life very stressful and with few moments to disconnect and enjoy the little things.