An Aha! Moment

From our early stages of birth we are shaped by objects and materials, as well as they become a part of if not our entire reality. Could it be that this development at such a young stage is a contributing factor to our materialistic tendencies? For the sake of elaboration and clarity let me say that this development stage I am referring to involves object permanence. Simply put this is when as a child you learn what is what and who is who in reality. In order for object permanence to set in place we must have something moderately tangible and sensually appealing to connect to the idea of the object. This need for a tangible object to connect to an idea or emotion becomes our nature. I feel that implicitally this develops into something much larger. Think about it, do you know someone who equates objects with emotions? For example...flowers with affection, or presents with love. This cognitive process is so drilled into us that it's unavoidable. For years I've been so disgusted and annoyed with our socieity's uncanny ability to confuse emotion and ideas with material objects, and it is just now dawning on me that my frustration with this concept is pointless; we as humans by nature are cognitively and subconciously materialistic. It's a part of how our brains develop. Granted some people do take this to a whole different level than others but to some degree this is out of our control. Also some people do deserve to appreciate materials more than others, specifically people who earn them and work for them. But can we really be held 100% accountable for something we are engineered to do? Just some food for thought... Open to debate?