Materialism: Profiles of agreeableness and neuroticism

• Agreeableness, neuroticism and materialism were investigated.
• High levels of materialism were found with high neuroticism and low agreeableness.
• High neurotic and agreeable and low neurotic and agreeable were medium materialist.
• Low levels of materialism were found with low neuroticism and high agreeableness.
• Agreeableness did not moderate relationship between neuroticism and materialism.

The major personality correlates of materialism are high neuroticism and low agreeableness. While neuroticism and materialism have been examined in the literature, there is little research with agreeableness and materialism. In this study, three large samples of University students were tested comparing four neuroticism–agreeableness profile combinations. High materialists had the profile of low agreeableness–high neuroticism. Medium materialists had the profiles of either high agreeableness–high neuroticism or low agreeableness–low neuroticism. Low materialists were high agreeableness–low neuroticism. This pattern may be found because low agreeableness is related to lower effortful control so therefore, an inability to regulate materialistic impulses. With neuroticism, materialistic tendencies may be the anxious attempt to compensate for past experiences of feelings of deprivation.