The scene is repeated year after year in many homes: the opening of Christmas presents is an anthology of forced smiles, poker faces and expressions of the type “but what do I want this for?”
The key to the disagreement between those who give the gifts and those who receive them is due to the fact that the former focus on the moment of reception of the present, with the intention that that moment is a great surprise. However, the latter are more interested in the long-term usefulness of the gift given to them.
This is stated by research conducted by marketing experts at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, who analyzed numerous investigations conducted on the subject and found that there is often a disparity among the motivations of “gifted and gifted”.
Jeff Galak, Marketing professor at Tepper School, gives a very graphic example to explain it: “Sometimes, it is much better to give a vacuum cleaner, which will not impress anyone, but will be widely used for a long time.”
Three glaring mistakes when gifting
Researchers have identified the three most common gift-giving mistakes:
- Giving away things that have not been asked of us, just to surprise the other person, who usually prefers presents from a pre-established list.
- Focusing on material objects , which are more likely to elicit an immediate positive response, when gifting experiences (theater tickets, passes to a spa, weekend stays …) results in greater pleasure, albeit delayed.
- Make “socially committed” gifts, such as donations to a charitable institution or NGO on behalf of the person we want to please.
The investigation ends with this conclusion: the key to getting our gift right is to empathize with its recipient and think of presents that, in addition to being appreciated at the time of receiving them, are useful in the medium and long term.
