Ernest Baskin

Who they are

The work of Ernest Baskin reaches this site through the paper listed below. On this site the name is tied to Construal Level Theory, Giver-Receiver Gap.

Key papers

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. What it reports: Construal level approach: givers, more psychologically distant from the gift, think more abstractly and weigh desirability more; receivers focus more on feasibility. Givers do not choose gifts to maximise the receiver's happiness or relationship goals as closely as they believe. Givers are sensitive to their distance from the receiver; receivers are not sensitive to theirs.

Key ideas

Construal Level Theory: The idea that psychological distance changes how abstractly a thing is thought about, applied to gifts to explain why givers weigh desirability and receivers weigh feasibility.

Giver-Receiver Gap: The pattern that givers and recipients weigh the same gift differently, so givers' expectations about price, desirability and thought do not match what recipients report.

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