PERCEPTIONS OF ECONOMIC NEEDS AND OF ANTICIPATED FUTURE INCOME

This article examines some of the sources of individuals' perceptions of what income they will require in order to lead a comfortable life and their expectations of what income they will actually attain. Income of childhood household predicted expectations of future income but was only marginally related to anticipated needs. Measures of materialism and of two dimensions of nonclinical depressive orientation showed an interesting and complex relation to each other and to a number of variables related to perceived needs, priorities, and expectations. Although expected income and anticipated need were highly correlated, closer analysis revealed that most subjects, regardless of the income level they aspired to, anticipated making less than they will need. It is suggested that in a growth-oriented economy the stimulation of needs may be such as to continuously outstrip people's capacity to fulfill them. © 1990.