Alternatives to Materialism: Measurement Meeting
October 12, 2000
Hotel Lombardy, Washington D.C.
Participants:
Betsy Taylor, Executive Director, The Center for a New American Dream
Tim Kasser, Professor, Knox College
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Director, Quality of Life Research Center
Jeremy Hunter, Research Director, Quality of Life Research Center
Jeanne Nakamura, Research Director, Quality of Life Research Center
Goals
We would like to establish a network of researchers interested in exploring various aspects of materialism -- this would be in part an effort allied with
the larger Positive Psychology movement and our activities of exploring The Good Life at the Quality of Life Research Center. An important part of
establishing a network quickly is to have a palette of agreed upon measures that the researcher can incorporate into their existing research programs. For
example, one researcher, who examines the role of positive emotions and development, expressed interest in having a set of measures she could
incorporate into her work. Because we anticipate that the December meeting will have many people in positions like this, we'd like to be able to start
quickly by having these definitional issues already decided.
Therefore, the goal of this meeting is twofold:
1. Establish an operationalizeable definition of materialism.
2. Assess the existing measures of materialism and determine if there are gaps in the knowledge that need to be filled.
We know there are measures that look at individual values and attitudes. What we are not so sure on is individual behavior.
Furthermore, there are larger-scale social measures that seem to be appropriate too, like measures of household consumption and national
comparisons of materialism.
Having both Tim and Betsy as contributors is an ideal situation because each brings complementary skills and views to the table. One of
the overarching goals of our Center is to meld together the worlds of research and praxis, because we wish to provide valuable tools for each to
do their work.
Meeting Schedule
| 8:30am -9:30am | Introduction and Breakfast |
| 9:30am -11:00am |
Defining Materialism and its Negative Aspects - Betsy and Tim |
| 11:00am - 12:30pm |
Psychological Measures - Tim |
| 12:30pm - 2:00pm |
Lunch at Hotel Restaurant |
| 2:00pm - 3:30pm | Social and Ecological Measures -- Betsy |
| 2:30pm - 3:30pm | Coffee Break |
| 3:30pm - 6:30pm | Discussion |