Materialism and Money-Desire Tendency Test | Explore the Relationship Between Your View of Wealth and Happiness

1. What Are Materialism and Money-Desire Tendency?

Materialism does not simply mean 'liking to buy things'; it is a stable personality tendency that treatsmaterial possession, wealth accumulation, and social status as the core values of life and the main source of happiness. Money desire, in turn, is the strength of the psychological motive that drives this behavior.

Psychologists Richard Ryan and Tim Kasser proposed the 'materialistic values theory,' whichindicates that excessive materialism is often associated with lower subjective well-being, more interpersonal conflict, and higher levels of anxiety, because it may crowd out the needs for inner growth, close relationships, and a sense of community belonging.

2. Theoretical Basis: Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Value Goals

This test is based onSelf-Determination Theory (SDT), specifically its goal-content theory. The theory holds that humans have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

When a person's goal system leans too much toward 'extrinsic goals' (such as wealth, fame, and image) rather than 'intrinsic goals' (such as personal growth, close relationships, and serving society), even material success cannot satisfy deep psychological needs, leading to a 'hollowing out' of happiness. This test assesses how balanced you are between these two goal orientations.

3. The Five Assessment Dimensions of This Test

To comprehensively assess your money-desire tendency, we designed 18 questions covering the following five dimensions:

• Wealth Centrality: how high a priority is money in your daily thinking and decisions?
• Definition of Success: do you tend to measure a person's success by the assets they own?
• Obtaining Happiness: is shopping and spending a primary means of relieving negative emotions?
• Social Comparison: do you often evaluate your own worth by comparing material conditions with others?
• Insecurity: to what extent do fear of poverty and a craving for security drive your behavior?

4. Why Take This Test?

Understanding your materialistic tendencies is not about criticizing yourself for 'loving money' but about gaining awareness:

• If you fall into thehigh-material orientation, you may need to watch out for the traps of consumerism and focus on spiritual richness beyond wealth;
• If you fall into thelow-material orientation, you can better understand your detachment in consumption decisions and how to balance real-world pressures;
• Regardless of whether you score high or low, finding the balance point between material needs and psychological happiness is an important task for adults.

5. Scoring Instructions

Each question uses a 1-5 scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The system calculates your weighted scores across the five dimensions and, based on the total score, classifies you into a wealth-view type while also providing tailored psychological-adjustment advice.