Yan Zhang

Yan Zhang

Yan Zhang is a researcher and first author of the 2012 Journal of Experimental Psychology: General paper on thoughtfulness in gift exchanges.

Who they are

The work of Yan Zhang reaches this site through the paper listed below. On this site the name is tied to Giver-Receiver Gap.

Key papers

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. What it reports: Gift giving involves the value of the object and the symbolic meaning of the exchange. Givers do not experience the trigger that makes receivers consider the giver's thoughts, so they mispredict when thoughts count; three experiments supported this and a final experiment showed increasing social connection to the receiver made thoughts count.

Key ideas

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.

Sources

  1. 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.