The economy of generosity: why don't people appreciate your gifts

Probably, every this happened: give the gift and then realize that it was a bad choice. That it lay somewhere in the pantry and forget or throw in the spring. Sometimes the error is not so obvious, and we learn about it years later, when find gift sealed in a box somewhere in the attic.





Why is it so?

A study by Jeff Galak, Julian Givi and Elanor Williams, suggests that when choosing a gift, we think primarily about how the recipient will react to it, and don't care whether he's actually using this thing.

A bad gift can become a big problem. It can even alienate the donor and recipient from each other, to demonstrate that you do not understand each other and this may be the last straw.

What are we doing wrong and how to fix it? The decision comes down to understanding what people consider "good gift," say the researchers.

 

"According to donor, this means that the gift will bring the recipient to delight, impress, surprise or touched when he or she receive and open it, while for the recipient it is important that gift was easy and fun to use".

 

You can enjoy the delight of your mother, opening a box with a new 75-inch TV, but the fact that she had no place to put it, and in the future it will be a problem for her. On the other hand, when you give a new set of blades for a razor, it brings you much joy, but the recipient will thank you, when to use them.

In a similar study, it was discovered that when people need to buy gifts for a large number of recipients, they often choose something more unique than beneficial. The main reason is that buyers were afraid to admit that just bought the same gifts for everyone — even if the people for whom they are intended, will never know about it.

In addition, recipients usually appreciate the gifts by almost a third cheaper than their real price. Therefore, when you are poorly chosen gift, and its total monetary and emotional value drops significantly.





How can we avoid these mistakes?

For starters, consider how useful your gift will be in the end. Big, expensive and unusual gift can be much worse than a simple, relatively inexpensive and even boring, but practical gift.

Second, buy gifts for each person separately. In a study where people chose the less useful gifts, trying to be unique, when participants were asked to buy gifts for fewer people, it closed the gap in views about the usefulness of the gift between the giver and the recipient.

 



If you don't want to go somewhere — don'T GO!Do not wear CLOSE to you people

Ultimately the problem of bad gifts comes down to self-centeredness. What we want to give is not always what people want. We can work on your choice of gifts, and also try to feel in the shoes of the recipient and look at the gift of his eyes. Not an easy task.

So happy holidays and good luck shopping for the perfect gift. She clearly needed.published

 



Source: ideanomics.ru/articles/8154