Gift giving anxieties as a function of recipient characteristics

Abstract

Previous research suggests that gift giving is a form of identity presentation that enables givers to create a desired image of themselves for gift recipients. Sometimes, however, individuals experience anxiety when selecting gifts that best perfect this desired identity (Sherry, McGrath, & Levy, 1993). Furthermore, the influential power of the gift receiver can create mental stress for the giver. This stress may be reflected in greater physiological arousal and longer decision making time. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the physiological anxiety caused by gift giving to influential gift recipients. The hypotheses were that, 1) the givers with difficult recipients, those were strong emotional significance, will display higher states of anxiety as measured by electrodermal response than those with easy recipients, those with weak emotional significance, and 2) the givers with difficult recipients would take longer to select a gift then those with easy ones. The result did not support both hypotheses. Difficult recipient group registered at the highest gift anxiety while the weak emotion group took the longest time on gift purchasing. Within the category of difficult recipients, in-laws created the most stress on givers, where as children and same-gender friends produce the least stress.