Emotional intelligence training as an intervention to diminish consumer materialism

Abstract

Research confirms the existence of links between a personality’s propensity for materialism, and various social and psychological ills: compulsive buying, poorer mental health, etc. The development of emotional intelligence (EI) helps to solve such issues. However, the creation of EI development programme is complex. In addition, sucg programmes developed tend to lack a clear EI model, are not differentiated according to specific participant problems (e.g., materialism), underestimate certain aspects of the change in the EI level, etc. Thus the purpose of the present paper is to present essential EI programme curriculum methodological guidelines and recommendations for the creation of a specialised materialism reduction programme. Results and conclusions. The curriculum must implement the following principles: adaptation according to the participant age and nature of the demonstrated behaviour (in this case – materialism); linking certain tasks to a practical application to develop real-life skills; establishment of objective criteria to assess the EI level and materialism changes at the end of training. The recommended format of the three-stage EI curriculum is: I. Development of self-awareness; II. Self-management training; III. Application of learnt emotional competencies in a group by modelling various situations relevant to participants. A qualified coach must provide ongoing feedback consisting of reinforcement and constructive criticism. Recommended EI training methods: discussion, modelling, role play, etc. Essential factors for the effectiveness of the EI curriculum: selection of motivated participants, coach competence, reliability, validity and objectivity of EI and materialism change measurement tools, transfer of tasks to real-life situations, and measurement of the impact stability after at least 3 months.