Materialism, or beliefs and values that link wealth and consumption to success and happiness, negatively affects interpersonal relationships. Prior work has typically explained these effects through the allocation of personal resources (such as time or money) within relationships, thus using a behavioural route. However, this research proposes an alternative cognitive pathway to understand the adverse effects of materialism on interpersonal relationships. Three studies (N = 1389) employing correlational and experimental methodologies showed that materialism leads to heightened expectations and standards for a significant other, which are associated with poorer interpersonal outcomes. Specifically, materialism heightens the ideal standards that one has for a close other around achievement (e.g., ambition) and positive image (e.g., attractiveness), which are linked to higher conflict and lower relational satisfaction. Therefore, this work contributes to deepening our understanding of how consumer‐oriented values shape social perceptions and negatively affect interpersonal dynamics. Practical applications include informing relationship counselling practices, developing educational interventions, and guiding marketers and media content producers towards messages that do not increase individual's ideals and standards for themselves and others. Further research should explore other factors that might alter this mediation (e.g., mindfulness) and examine the short‐ and long‐term effects through longitudinal and interventional‐based research.

中文翻译：

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揭示唯物主义对人际关系的影响：一种认知方法


唯物主义，或者将财富和消费与成功和幸福联系起来的信仰和价值观，会对人际关系产生负面影响。先前的研究通常通过在关系中分配个人资源（例如时间或金钱）来解释这些影响，从而使用行为途径。然而，这项研究提出了另一种认知途径来理解物质主义对人际关系的不利影响。三项采用相关性和实验方法的研究（N = 1389）表明，唯物主义会导致对重要他人的期望和标准提高，而这与较差的人际交往结果相关。具体来说，唯物主义提高了一个人对亲密他人的成就（例如野心）和积极形象（例如吸引力）的理想标准，这与更高的冲突和更低的关系满意度有关。因此，这项工作有助于加深我们对以消费者为导向的价值观如何塑造社会认知并对人际动态产生负面影响的理解。实际应用包括为关系咨询实践提供信息、制定教育干预措施以及指导营销人员和媒体内容制作者传达不会提高个人对自己和他人的理想和标准的信息。进一步的研究应该探索可能改变这种中介的其他因素（例如正念），并通过纵向和干预性研究来检查短期和长期影响。