DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

ecause an over-riding life emphasis on material gain compromises other valuable
aspects of life, such as friendship, art, literature or religion, so that “a person who only
responds to material rewards becomes blind to any other kind and loses the ability to
derive happiness from other sources.” (Csiksentmihalyi, 1999, p.823). Exclusively
materialist goals tend to mean less time given to relationships, which means that
family life can suffer. A materialist mindset can also lead to the atrophy of other
kinds of appreciation, such as the appreciation of natural beauty, as the mind is
focused on later reward rather than the present moment.
Csikszentmihalyi claims that materialism is the dominant cultural ideology of
our age, and it places the acquisition of material gain or symbols of that gain as the
apogee of life and the benchmark by which human quality is measured. It works by
equating human quality with wealth so that “the worth of a person and of a person’s
accomplishments are determined by the price they fetch in the marketplace.”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p.823). This ideology has a “virtual monopoly” on
contemporary society (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p.821), because “our culture has
progressively eliminated every alternative that in previous times used to give meaning
and purpose to individual lives.” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p.823).
Kasser and Ryan call materialism “the dark side of the American dream”
(Kasser and Ryan, 1993, p. 410), as they conclude that it paradoxically seems to
lessen, not augment, wellbeing. In The High Price of Materialism (2002) Kasser
summarised a decade of research which suggests that materialistic values lead to
fragile self-worth, poorer interpersonal relationships, a lack of intrinsic interest in life
and ultimately anxiety and insecurity. Kasser considers materialistic aspirations to be
a form of “extrinsic” motivation. Extrinsically motivated actions are not in
themselves rewarding, indeed may be considered onerous, boring or stressful, but are
undertaken for later gain. In extrinsically motivated actions the action is a means to a
later end, often a financial one, and the action will be bypassed if at all possible, for it
is not fulfilling in itself. The opposite of extrinsic motivation is intrinsic motivation,
which is action that is fulfilling and enjoyable in itself, therefore is its own reward.
Intrinsic motivation is promoted and shown by the presence of interest in the activity
(Deci and Ryan, 1991)
Deci and Ryan focus on three other central determinants of intrinsic activity; a
sense of relatedness, a sense of self-determination and a sense of competence.
Relatedness does not simply mean having other people around during an activity, but
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