The Relational Consequences of Giver- and Recipient-focused Gifts, 2019

We collected data from 117 givers (and 70 recipients) to examine the relational consequences of giving giver-focused and recipient-focused gifts. Participants university students and their friend, family member, or relationship partner to whom they gifted a small gift (iTunes song). In this experiment, students were recruited on campus and randomly assigned to either be a giver or receiver in the experiment. Givers were then further assigned to give a gift that either reflected themselves (a "giver centric gift") or a gift that reflected their recipient (a "recipient centric gift"). All gifts were iTunes songs that were sent immediately to the receiver. Both parties then completed an online survey where they reported their feelings of self-other overlap, relational closeness, and evaluation of the gift. Finally, all participants reported their general preferences on giving giver-centric and recipient centric gifts. The study was approved by the ethics board at Simon Fraser University, approval number [2012s0954].