When it comes to giving holiday gifts, it’s the thought that counts, right?
WRONG.
YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS ON THE LINE.
DO NOT SCREW THIS UP.
Hey holiday shoppers, Chastity here filling in for DNews.
Shopping for holiday gifts is an unavoidable pain that we endure year after year.
Fighting through traffic to get to the malls.
Fighting at the malls to get parking.
Long lines, limited budgets, high stress.
Online shopping has made that process a bit easier, but thinking of the perfect gift is
still the biggest challenge of all.
According to science, it’s NOT just the thought that counts.
Studies show that giving bad gifts COULD potentially hurt your relationships.
So, if you’re one of the many last minute shoppers out there, there’s a lot more on
the line than you think.
A 2012 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that the thought
only counts under specific conditions.
At first, when participants thought about receiving a gift they liked, the thought didn’t
count.
The amount of thought they believed givers put into it was not correlated with their
perception of the gift.
Then, participants thought about times they received a bad gift.
In this case, the givers’ thought process DID count, and WAS correlated with the evaluation
of the gift.
The receivers were triggered by the bad gift to think about the givers’ intentions.
Probably along the lines of, “What the hell were they thinking?
Why would I want SAND ART?”
Hot tip - NO ONE wants sand art.
A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology looks at close relationships.
The researchers argue that people are happiest in their relationships when they believe they
have found someone who understands them and shares their experiences.
So good gifts signify similarity in a relationship, which does little for the relationship itself.
Bad gifts, however, could cause people to question their similarity, which damages the
relationship.
A 2011 study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that people appreciate
the gifts they explicitly request more than those they do not.
We want what we ask for, plain and simple.
Yet as gift givers, we don’t understand that - we assume both solicited and unsolicited
gifts are equally appreciated.
So if your loved one gives you the ol’ “Oh I dunno, surprise me!”...DON’T.
Think about that year your aunt got you that shake weight.
Or that gift card from your friend for the chain restaurant you hate that’s STILL in
your wallet.
Instead, ask for an idea of what they might want.
Get something you know they’ll like, especially if you want to be closer with them.
And do not, I repeat, do not re-gift something you got from someone else.
Don’t be that guy.
They will find out.
Tell us about your gift exchanging nightmares in the comments below, and don’t forget
to subscribe for more DNews.
I’m Chastity and I’ll see you next time.
Happy Holidays!