Some people base their whole life on two very basic things: what they possess and what they appear to possess. This is the case of materialistic people , whose way of life is increasingly promoted by a society obsessed with money and possessions.

Now… what are the characteristics that define materialistic people and how can they be recognized? Let’s look at it below.

What are materialistic people like?

It should be borne in mind that in order to assess the degree of materialism it is necessary to take into account the cultural and economic context in which one lives.

For example, some people, because they were born in a rich society , live surrounded by all kinds of products , without this meaning that they basically value this kind of comfort. On the other hand, one can be materialistic and live in a very poor family, as we will see.

Having said that, let’s move on to see what those traits and habits are that are characteristic of materialistic people.

1. invest a lot in improving their appearance

Those who make their life revolve around their resources, see their own body as a part of their properties and therefore treat it as if it were a facade. In a way, they use their appearances as a capital that they have at their disposal in order to have more power and more possibilities to access better standards of living.

2. They value others according to their possessions

For the most materialistic people, the rest of the people have value depending on what they have : a very expensive car, a good wardrobe, land or simply money. This is because they establish their socialization priorities by taking into account the possibilities of having more assets by staying with those people. For example, even if someone seems not to have any belongings, perhaps they are chosen as a friend because they have contacts with important people.

3. Always looking for more

In theory, the materialist does not always have to aspire to have more things; he should simply put possessions first. However, in practice, the dynamic of consumerism that predominates today in our society is especially biased towards those who fit this psychological profile .

That is why materialistic people can become very anxious if they cannot access certain material goods. Similarly, they may plan to shop for months, so that in that time everything that is done has to do with that goal. In short, their life goals revolve around possessions, not experiences or dealings with others.

4. They divide people into successes and failures

As we have seen, materialistic people establish the value of people according to what they have. They transform this into a general principle of life in which wealth or poverty are indicators of success or failure. Whoever enjoys many resources is someone who is successful, while whoever has nothing material, nor contacts (that is, the possibility of having resources in the short and medium term), has failed.

Thus, according to this point of view each person is a project to be enriched, so that some work according to objective parameters, while others do not.

5. They believe that wealth depends on individual decisions and merit

From what we have seen above, this other characteristic of materialistic people is derived: they believe that what you have depends only on yourself , even though this is not really the case (you only have to look at the possibilities of living poor all your life simply because you were born into a family in certain regions of the planet).

Thus, materialistic people are especially insensitive to those who have few resources, since they have an excuse to despise them: they have not tried hard enough, they have not taken it seriously, they have been unambitious, they have little talent, etc.

6. They invest in the brand, not so much in the profit

In order to appear more, materialistic logic says that sometimes it is better to invest money in the brand than in the utility of a product , since the brand is easily recognizable by everyone and is associated with certain sensations and ideas that, supposedly, speak about oneself.

Of course, companies are aware of this fact, and take advantage of it to inflate prices, sometimes remaining well above the production cost, to exploit this virtual value subject to the desire for appearance.

Curiosity: tendency to depression

Although it is not a trait that can be easily identified in materialistic people, it is also known that they have a greater tendency towards depression. The reason for this, it seems, is that they invest too much effort in getting everything they want to own , making their life very stressful and with few moments to disconnect and enjoy the little things.