Individuals feel fear when they face potential dangers and threats. It causes individuals to take actions and make choices that help them face the threat, such as by seeking out others because there is “strength in numbers.” We conjecture that fear also increases materialism in individuals because there is “strength in things.” The results from four experiments illustrate that situationally felt fear can increase materialistic orientation (Study 1) because of a desire for safety (Study 2). Importantly, fear increases preference for material and not experiential goods (Study 3). Finally, consistent with our theoretical account, having more material products (vs. experiences) can reduce fear (Study 4). Together, our findings across four studies suggest that fear increases materialism. Our findings also offer unique insights into another precursor or antecedent to materialism, a human value related to both possessiveness and selfishness and that restricts individuals' pursuit of true happiness.

中文翻译：

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在事物中找到我的力量：恐惧可以解释唯物主义

个人在面临潜在的危险和威胁时会感到恐惧。它促使个人采取行动并做出选择来帮助他们面对威胁，例如寻找其他人，因为“人多势众”。我们推测恐惧也会增加个人的唯物主义，因为存在“事物的力量”。四项实验的结果表明，由于对安全的渴望（研究 2），情境性恐惧会增加物质取向（研究 1）。重要的是，恐惧会增加对物质而非体验商品的偏好（研究 3）。最后，与我们的理论解释一致，拥有更多的物质产品（相对于体验）可以减少恐惧（研究 4）。总之，我们在四项研究中的发现表明恐惧会增加唯物主义。