Material Motivation

What causes and effects are there, for and from materialism?

I’ll consider “materialism” to basically mean; putting a significantly high value on material items.

Starting with the cause, instincts are likely to be the core cause of putting a high value on objects. As natural selection would have it, acquiring and keeping as many materials as is feasible, generally increases the probability of that individual to survive, then pass on their genetics. This is true for most animals, and should be the same throughout the history of humanity. This causes a strong selfish instinct for mostly anyone, to try to obtain as many resources as they can. With the development of society and technology, comes more and more material objects to be strived for. As instincts are the core triggers behind all positive or negative reinforcement, this should have a huge impact on the motivations throughout anyone’s life.

A secondary ongoing contributor to the cause of materialism could be subconscious influence. Since the reinforcement triggers, which steer subconscious, are aimed in the direction of acquiring as much as someone can, after repeated circumstances of gaining materials, and feeling the neurochemical reward for that gain, the mind will subconsciously be driven to feel that same reward again. As subconscious functions on relatively simple factors involved in the circumstances, the mind will attempt to repeat any vaguely similar circumstances. Materialism is not unlike a drug. It will cause an unaware subconscious craving for more and more.

Besides circumstantial occurrences triggering the positive reinforcement of gaining materials, the influence of others can also contribute to the subconscious desire to attain more possessions. As another functional aspect of instinct, it also causes a member of a group to copy fellow species-pack-members. This can be a useful learning method in a lot of natural environments, but when it comes to the modern complex circumstances of society, it can cause one’s actions to be replicated by others, in less beneficial circumstances. With the commonality, throughout modern society, to aspire to collect more and more materials, this causes peer perspectives to follow in the same direction.

The effects of materialism can deviate quite significantly, from the usefulness of the concept, as it was in a natural environment. With the alteration to the contextual environment (relative to variables), technological and societal advancements have made materials unnaturally easy to acquire. This means each individual will continue to have the instinct to obtain more and more, despite the scenario of rapidly surpassing quantities of resources which are sufficient for a quality life.

If resources and materials were vastly quantiful, this effect may not cause many problems. But considering available resources for today's humanity, are not majoritively renewable or widespread, the selfish nature of materialism causes inefficient distribution of resources, and collateral damage. I further explained efficiency of distribution, in a post from a couple yrs ago; Distribution Devisal, and further explained the cause & effect of unequal wealth in society, in a post from last yr; Disproportionate Society. From many members of society gaining and keeping vast amounts of unnecessary and irrational materials, comes the effect of many other members left with a lack of sufficient materials. Beyond that, comes contribution to supply & demand, which causes the effect of long term collateral damage to the natural ecosystem. This effect is  caused by wreckless harvesting of materials, which in the long run, will affect all of humanity, by significant alteration to the planets environment.

Besides negative global effects, materialism is likely to have relative hindrances in any individual’s life. It has the effect of overly focusing on obtainable physical objects, and diverts the majority of motivation to acquire either specific, or a high quantity, of objects. The diversion of focus and motivation, leaves other potential qualities of life forgotten. The nature of a subconscious mindset, can also have the effect of irrational decision making in a lot of scenarios. 1 might spend more money or effort than is efficient (even for them as an individual), at a certain time, having the effect of repercussions in other areas of their life.

As seems to be the cause of virtually all human actions, instinct and subconscious influence, are the triggers behind the strive to obtain a lot of possessions. The focus and aspiration to acquire possessions, doesn’t initially seem like it would be too bad a trait in a lot of specific contexts. But, in the larger scope of incorporated variables, there can be profound negative side-effects, to the individuals life, and on a global scale. It seems it could be significantly beneficial for humanity, to generally implement a revisal of the continued use of the perspective, of Material Motivation.