Well-Being, Temporal Orientation, and the Dual Nature of Materialism

Abstract

The present research examined the dual nature of the materialistic personality in terms of temporal perspective, subjective well-being, and materialism. The dual-nature model hypothesizes an anxious “mouse” type and a more flamboyant “peacock” type of materialist. Previous research has found a relationship between materialism and past-negative and present fatalistic temporal orientation. This study extended this research by examining the future-negative perspective and its relationship to materialism and well-being. It was hypothesized that the two types of materialists would have different temporal profiles. In addition, it was predicted that a future-negative perspective would mediate the relationship between materialism and well-being as was previously found with past-negative temporal orientation. The results indicated higher dark-future, future-negative, and past-negative scores with the “mouse” type materialists and higher present hedonistic scores in the “peacock” type materialists. Mediation analysis showed an indirect effect of a future-negative perspective in the relationship between materialism and well-being.