Giver-Receiver Gap

Giver-Receiver Gap

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

The pattern that givers and recipients weigh the same gift differently.

What it is

In three studies by Flynn and Adams, givers expected a more expensive gift to earn more appreciation and recipients' appreciation did not follow price; Baskin and colleagues found that givers weigh desirability while receivers lean towards feasibility; Zhang and Epley found that givers mispredict when their thoughts count for a recipient.

In effect

The article on why gift-giving is stressful uses it as the frame for the two seats at one exchange. The studies measured expectations and appreciation, not stress.

What it does not say

It describes average differences in what givers and recipients weigh. It does not say that givers cannot choose well, and focusing on the recipient's preferences narrowed the gap in some studies.

Sources

  1. Flynn, F. J., & Adams, G. S. (2009). Money can't buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about the link between gift price and feelings of appreciation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(2), 404-409.
  2. Flynn, F. J., & Adams, G. S. (2009). Money can't buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about gift price and feelings of appreciation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(2), 404-409.
  3. Baskin, E., Wakslak, C. J., Trope, Y., & Novemsky, N. (2014). Why feasibility matters more to gift receivers than to givers: A construal-level approach to gift giving. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(1), 169-182.
  4. Zhang, Y., & Epley, N. (2012). Exaggerated, mispredicted, and misplaced: When it's the thought that counts in gift exchanges. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(4), 667-681.