While finding the perfect gift for someone is a worthy endeavor, researchers recently discovered an often-overlooked factor that can influence whether a recipient will be pleased with a present: how the gift is wrapped. The study abstract is available online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
The investigators were interested in exploring the validity of the common assumption that recipients prefer gifts that are neatly wrapped. They hypothesized that the opposite may in fact be true. "When we receive a gift from a friend, we use the wrapping as a cue about the gift inside and form expectations," says Jessica Rixom, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Reno. "If it's wrapped neatly, we set high expectations, and it's hard for the gift to live up to those expectations."
Rixom and her colleagues tested this hypothesis by asking study participants to unwrap a gift that was either neatly or sloppily wrapped. Inside, they found either an official Miami Heat or Orlando Magic mug. For this study, the researchers selected participants who were specifically Miami Heat fans but not Orlando Magic fans, so the Heat mug would be the preferred gift. After unwrapping it, the participants rated how much they liked the gift by answering five questions. The results showed that recipients had more favorable attitudes toward the sloppily-wrapped gifts—regardless of whether the mug represented their preferred basketball team.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-danger-great-gift.html
The investigators were interested in exploring the validity of the common assumption that recipients prefer gifts that are neatly wrapped. They hypothesized that the opposite may in fact be true. "When we receive a gift from a friend, we use the wrapping as a cue about the gift inside and form expectations," says Jessica Rixom, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Reno. "If it's wrapped neatly, we set high expectations, and it's hard for the gift to live up to those expectations."
Rixom and her colleagues tested this hypothesis by asking study participants to unwrap a gift that was either neatly or sloppily wrapped. Inside, they found either an official Miami Heat or Orlando Magic mug. For this study, the researchers selected participants who were specifically Miami Heat fans but not Orlando Magic fans, so the Heat mug would be the preferred gift. After unwrapping it, the participants rated how much they liked the gift by answering five questions. The results showed that recipients had more favorable attitudes toward the sloppily-wrapped gifts—regardless of whether the mug represented their preferred basketball team.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-danger-great-gift.html
