OUR VALUES
Editor's note: This post is part of a series by Dr. Baker on Our Values about core American values. In light of Cyber-Monday, Dr. Baker is discussing America's consumer culture and our tendencies to overspend.
Can your dreams tell you anything about your consumer behavior? Interpreting dreams is an age-old endeavor. Modern science, however, has produced reliable research on the meanings of particular dreams. That includes dreams indicating that some people are more materialistic than others. James Roberts reports on this research in "Shiny Objects," the book we’re discussing this week.
Suppose these are recurring themes in your dreams: falling, ferocious animals you can’t control, dead people or ghostly figures beckoning to the grave.
What would all this mean? These themes are common in the dreams of "high materialists"—those who buy a lot, overspend, and purchase things for status value.
These themes rarely occur in the dreams of "low materialists" — people who stay within their means, who don’t overspend, and who purchase things for use value or comfort, not for status. For example, death is a theme in 21 percent of the dreams high materialists have, while it is mentioned in only 3 percent of the low materialists' dreams. When low materialists dream of ferocious animals, they are able to tame them — the "scary dog" becomes the "playful dog." High materialists can't do that.
More after the jump…