Psychology of Gift-Giving

Gift-giving is an economically significant area of consumer behavior. For we are constantly buy gifts: for Christmas and Mother’s Day, for birth and baptism, for the start of school and exams, for engagements and weddings, for birthdays or as souvenirs. Moreover, gift-giving is a very important psychological phenomenon, based on voluntariness, but also representing a duty and requiring compliance with rules. Thus, gift giving is by no means always associated with joy, but also with stress in the search for a perfect gift and disappointment when gifts fail.

The book presents central results of psychological research on gift-giving. These provide answers to the following questions, among others:

• What ‘secret’ rules of giving and receiving do we follow?
• What messages do we send with our gifts?
• How do certain characteristics - such as the amount of the price or empathy - influence satisfaction with a  Gift-giving is an economically significant area of consumer behavior. For we are constantly buy gifts: for Christmas and Mother’s Day, for birth and baptism, for the start of school and exams, for engagements and weddings, for birthdays or as souvenirs. Moreover, gift-giving is a very important psychological phenomenon, based on voluntariness, but also representing a duty and requiring compliance with rules. Thus, gift giving is by no means always associated with joy, but also with stress in the search for a perfect gift and disappointment when gifts fail.  The book presents central results of psychological research on gift-giving. These provide answers to the following questions, among others: 

  ·         What ‘secret’ rules of giving and receiving do we follow? 

  ·         What messages do we send with our gifts? 

  ·         How do certain characteristics- such as the amount of the price or empathy - influence satisfaction with a gift? 

  ·         What mistakes should we avoid when giving gifts in romantic relationships? 

  ·         When is a monetary gift appropriate and when is it not? 

   

  The Author 

  Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Bernd Stauss held the Chair of Service Management at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

• What mistakes should we avoid when giving gifts in romantic relationships?
• When is a monetary gift appropriate and when is it not?

The presentation of psychological gift-giving research is supplemented by references to gift-giving episodes in fiction by authors...read more...