Goal structures of materialists vs. non-materialists: The effects of TV exposure on materialism and the relationship between materialism and happiness.

This research approaches materialism with both qualitative and quantitative methods and with surveys conducted in China and U. S. It is composed of two parts. Part I investigates the goal hierarchy of materialists and non-materialists in America and China with the laddering technique. Materialists in both countries indicated that happiness was the most central goal in their pursuit of material possessions. Materialists and non-materialists share some enduring values. But American materialists exhibited more complex cognitive schema as reflected in a higher average number of goals and of linkages as well more feedback loops. On the other hand, Chinese non-materialists demonstrated a more complex schema than American non-materialists. This difference in the complexity of cognitive schemas was attributed to cultural influences. It was also found that attitudes and subjective norms toward a particular lifestyle were functions of goals and linkages. Part II examines the relationship between television viewing, materialism and happiness with multiple regressions. Cultivation theory posits that heavy television viewing is positively correlated with misperceptions of social reality and affects one's value systems. The results from Part II show that the predictors of materialism were viewing of specific television programs, television viewing motives, individualism and peer communication about consumption. Materialism was negatively correlated with happiness. The most significant predictors of happiness in both samples were self-esteem, family income and collectivism. This research reveals motivations behind materialism for the first time by depicting the cognitive schemas of materialists. It also confirms the three values of materialists as described in Richins' scale: acquisition centrality, possession-defined success and acquisition as the pursuit of happiness. The discovery of materialists' goal hierarchies will have implications for persuasive purposes, too, because communication is most effective when the message is linked to one's cherished beliefs or ideas. The findings also demonstrate for the first time a relationship between television viewing and second order effects--materialistic attitudes and indicate that specific television program viewing is more important than a global television measure in studying cultivation effects. Cultural influences were shown to be powerful in shaping one's materialistic attitudes and life satisfaction. Future research should explore the process of cultivation effects and find how and why this process happens.PhDCommunication and the ArtsCultural anthropologyMass communicationSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/131134/2/9825380.pd