Psychology of Gift-Giving

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Gift-giving is an economically significant area of consumer behavior. Because we 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 presentation of psychological gift-giving research is supplemented by references to gift-giving episodes in fiction by authors such as Paul Auster, Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Mitchell, and Thomas Mann. These illustrate the scientific findings and allow us to emotionally comprehend the experience of giving and receiving.