Psychology of Gift-Giving

Gift-giving as a Psychological Phenomenon

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.

Research and Questions

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.

Additional Insights

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.