Universitas Gadjah Mada Faculty of Psychology was visited by Tim Kasser, a Social Psychology and Economic Psychology professor from the United States, who gave a presentation in the topic of materialism, well-being, consumer culture, and environmental sustainability (6/9). Taking place in A-203 Faculty of Psychology, Kasser taught an open course titled “Materialistic Values and Ethics: A View from Psychological Research”. The two-hour course began at 9 A.M. and was open for students as well as the general public for free. Several teaching staffs of UGM Faculty of Psychology were also present, such as the Economic Psychology specialist Rahmat Hidayat, Ph.D., Dian Nasrah Marissa, Ph.D., and Galang Lufityanto, Ph.D. The class was attended by 40 participants. The Knox College professor’s visit was coordinated by a UGM Magister Program of Psychology student, who was exploring “Anti-Materialism in students in the context of Indonesia” as a theme for his graduate thesis and had corresponded with Tim Kasser beforehand.
Kasser presented several topics in the class, such as “Value and Goals”, “Cultural Dispositions”, and “Children and Marketing”. The “The High Price of Materialism” author also pointed to several relevant findings in studies both conducted by him and other researchers. For example, Kasser et al. (2014) found that the shift in parent and child focus from spending to sharing and saving factored in the decrease of materialism and increase of self-esteem. Participants of the class were active and asked questions that sparked discussions with Kasser. In a few instances, Kasser also gave the participants an opportunity to have a short discussion with fellow classmates. At the end of his presentation, Kasser asked the participants to contact him should they want to cite the articles that were present in his presentation.
Despite receiving much focus in Western society, materialism hasn’t been very recognized in Indonesia. The open course was an opportunity to increase the awareness of materialism and its negative effects that have been plaguing developed countries. Kasser’s appearance in the campus also served as a motivation for UGM Faculty of Psychology to start expanding the field of Economic Psychology.