For his own research questions, Kasser selected people who put making money
and having possessions relatively high on their overall list of things they deemed
important. In order to find this group, surveys were conducted with an ‘Aspiration
Index’ that listed a variety of goals which participants ranked according to their
importance. If someone ranked, for example, financial success higher in comparison
to other goals like a good family life and friendships, it indicated a materialistic
value set on the index.
Each life goal was associated with descriptions of aspirations that have been
observed to relate to particular values like benevolence, self-direction, security,
power or hedonism. In the category of financial success, for example, these
included “you will be your own boss,” “you will have a job with high social status,”
“you will have a job that pays well,” or “you will buy things just because you want
them.”
The study also documented aspirations in non-monetary goal categories like
‘image’ and ‘fame’ that competitive societies tend to treat with similar importance.
The commonality between these three goals is that they are extrinsic motivations,
which means they involve seeking a sense of worth outside oneself. Feeling worthy
thus depends on external rewards and the praise of others.
From a methodological point of view we can see how Kasser tested how people
who most closely resembled Homo economicus felt and how they experienced life.
The complete survey also had four questionnaires to assess the individual’s score on
two important well-being characteristics (self-actualization and vitality) and on the
two most common psychological disorders (depression and anxiety). The results
showed that people whose values were centered on the accumulation of wealth,
material possessions, or fame, faced a greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy, regardless of age,
income, or culture. Kasser repeated the study several times with different groups
and compared his findings with those of others. He added more extrinsic orientation
values like narcissism and used a more open methodology in which goals were not
assigned by providing pre-set aspirations but defined by the individuals themselves.
Across the board he found the same picture emerging: “The more materialistic
values are at the center of our lives, the more our quality of life is diminished”
(Kasser 2002: 14).
Another group of researchers has found evidence that many who care a lot about
making money and succeed can offset the loss of well-being they experience by
sacrificing aspects of their life like family or leisure time. Overall, however,
Kasser’s finding are supported, as Bok concludes in his meta-study, because “the
findings of psychologists convey a warning that being preoccupied with getting rich
carries a substantial risk of leaving one unhappy and disappointed in the end” (Bok
2010: 15).
The blurb accompanying Thrive, the 2014 bestseller by Arianna Huffington, puts
it this way: “Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success—money
and power—has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an
erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers.”
So, encouraging and training people to see and think like a Homo economicus
74
3 Why the Mainstream Economic Paradigm Cannot Inform …
and having possessions relatively high on their overall list of things they deemed
important. In order to find this group, surveys were conducted with an ‘Aspiration
Index’ that listed a variety of goals which participants ranked according to their
importance. If someone ranked, for example, financial success higher in comparison
to other goals like a good family life and friendships, it indicated a materialistic
value set on the index.
Each life goal was associated with descriptions of aspirations that have been
observed to relate to particular values like benevolence, self-direction, security,
power or hedonism. In the category of financial success, for example, these
included “you will be your own boss,” “you will have a job with high social status,”
“you will have a job that pays well,” or “you will buy things just because you want
them.”
The study also documented aspirations in non-monetary goal categories like
‘image’ and ‘fame’ that competitive societies tend to treat with similar importance.
The commonality between these three goals is that they are extrinsic motivations,
which means they involve seeking a sense of worth outside oneself. Feeling worthy
thus depends on external rewards and the praise of others.
From a methodological point of view we can see how Kasser tested how people
who most closely resembled Homo economicus felt and how they experienced life.
The complete survey also had four questionnaires to assess the individual’s score on
two important well-being characteristics (self-actualization and vitality) and on the
two most common psychological disorders (depression and anxiety). The results
showed that people whose values were centered on the accumulation of wealth,
material possessions, or fame, faced a greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems with intimacy, regardless of age,
income, or culture. Kasser repeated the study several times with different groups
and compared his findings with those of others. He added more extrinsic orientation
values like narcissism and used a more open methodology in which goals were not
assigned by providing pre-set aspirations but defined by the individuals themselves.
Across the board he found the same picture emerging: “The more materialistic
values are at the center of our lives, the more our quality of life is diminished”
(Kasser 2002: 14).
Another group of researchers has found evidence that many who care a lot about
making money and succeed can offset the loss of well-being they experience by
sacrificing aspects of their life like family or leisure time. Overall, however,
Kasser’s finding are supported, as Bok concludes in his meta-study, because “the
findings of psychologists convey a warning that being preoccupied with getting rich
carries a substantial risk of leaving one unhappy and disappointed in the end” (Bok
2010: 15).
The blurb accompanying Thrive, the 2014 bestseller by Arianna Huffington, puts
it this way: “Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success—money
and power—has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an
erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers.”
So, encouraging and training people to see and think like a Homo economicus
74
3 Why the Mainstream Economic Paradigm Cannot Inform …