Why do people want and buy: large TVs, fast cars etc?

[Adam1]

Why? Same reason.

Amazing! How much did that cost?

[GD]

Linky

According to researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology, if a person is told he or she is tasting two different wines?and that one costs $5 and the other $45 when they are, in fact, the same wine?the part of the brain that experiences pleasure will become more active when the drinker thinks he or she is enjoying the more expensive vintage.

"What we document is that price is not just about inferences of quality, but it can actually affect real quality," said Baba Shiv, associate professor of marketing who co-authored a paper titled "Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness," published online Jan. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "So, in essence, [price] is changing people's experiences with a product and, therefore, the outcomes from consuming this product."

[skeptik]

Why? Same reason.

Amazing! How much did that cost?

about 4 billion years of evolution, terminated by a short but extreme burst of sexual selection.

[Adam1]

about 4 billion years of evolution, terminated by a short but extreme burst of sexual selection.

I guess you'd need a really expensive HD TV to appreciate its colours in all their glory.

[MacG]

I've given up on trying to understand people and the world! Took me some 40 years to realize that it might actually be an impossible task. Either that or I'm developing a senior age Asperger syndrome.

The last 300 years with fossil energy has created such a complex world full of various stimuli that we might just not be fit for it. Our brains has probably not evolved at the same speed as the number of gadgets and stimuli has increased.

The human brain seems to be extremely programmable also, and what is "stimuli" in one society is meaningless in another. Oh, yes, we are moving to a global consumerist society of some kind so these local varieties are disappearing, but the input from the anthropologists give clear evidence of the extreme programmability of the human brain.

Generally, as "Skeptic" pointed out, "affluence" is considered as a good thing, but some people managed to get enormous social status by austerity. Like Mahatma Gandhi or so. I suspect that many buy gadgets just because they are bored and find a book not enough stimulating.

Ah, I don't know - the world is just to complex and people are just to weird!

[Nicko]

Try
'Toxic Stress and the twentieth century blues' by Vernon Coleman.
I thought it a great explaination with some good constructive methods of dealing with the problem.
A little dated maybe- published in 1991, but a good read.
Cheers
Nicko

[Erik]

I guess some of this madness can be attributed to Status Anxiety too. So a recommendable read might be Alain de Botton?

[skeptik]

Generally, as "Skeptic" pointed out, "affluence" is considered as a good thing

The peacock's tail is not just 'a good thing'. It does have a specific purpose.

[MacG]

Generally, as "Skeptic" pointed out, "affluence" is considered as a good thing

The peacock's tail is not just 'a good thing'. It does have a specific purpose.

Yea, but human mating behavior reminds most of some kind of spy novel. In order to get access to a womb, it's much cheaper and easier to lie and cheat than to actually procure the stuff and lifestyle requested.

Something strange has happened also - previously, people like Djingis Kahn impregnated hundreds, if not thousands of women - now the rich and famous males get vasectomies to avoid claims on the inheritance. The real multiplication goes on among the poor.

[nepenthean]

I've only a TV my folks gave me, not much of a TV fan. But I own a BMW ///M3. I will tell you its geometry is akin to a beautiful woman's curves. I sometimes walk out to the garage just to stare at it for awhile. If you ask why a person would pay so much for such a car, you have never driven it for sure. There is a reason BMW says, 'the ultimate driving machine'.

I took it to the track where I experienced its potential with impunity, nothing short of astonishing. It is expensive, but I have no regrets about it since, if this is the last of the oil days, I want to have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

[oilslick]

I suppose you could also ask why people fly off to places to do what they do? Why do any of us do anything which some might consider wrong.

Sadly this is why we're pretty stuffed in the long run - we can all find reasons to justify what we do and equally find reasons to decide what others do is wrong.

PS - nepenthean, you obviously haven't driven an Audi

[Erik]

But I own a BMW ///M3. I will tell you its geometry is akin to a beautiful woman's curves. I sometimes walk out to the garage just to stare at it for awhile. If you ask why a person would pay so much for such a car, you have never driven it for sure. There is a reason BMW says, 'the ultimate driving machine'.

I took it to the track where I experienced its potential with impunity, nothing short of astonishing. It is expensive, but I have no regrets about it since, if this is the last of the oil days, I want to have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

Outrageous and immoral! Shouldn't Nepenthean be banned from PS for such offensive posts??!!
You're right, the driving experience can be exhilarating, once you get away from other traffic, even in lesser machines than a BMW. We'd be kidding ourselves to pretend otherwise. It's one of the thrills we will have to sacrifice, but don't worry, there will be other thrills to replace them. One-to-one combat with your neighbours over a small sack of potatoes could be quite exciting for example...

[oilslick]

...but don't worry, there will be other thrills to replace them. One-to-one combat with your neighbours over a small sack of potatoes could be quite exciting for example...

[Kentucky Fried Panda]

The things you own, end up owning you.

[MacG]

The things you own, end up owning you.

Diogenes