After looking into the research around gifting (and there’s plenty of it), the reasons that cooler was such a home run are clear. Want to become that good a giver? Follow these three evidence-based rules for giving good presents—just in time for the holidays!
#1 Simple and practical is good. A 2009 study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that although givers tend to think a fancier, expensive gift will be appreciated more, receivers are actually happier with cheaper, more practical presents. In the experiment, friends gave one another a new pen (the pairs were students, for whom pens are always at a premium). The givers thought their friends would prefer a heavy, fancy, special-occasion pen, but the getters in fact preferred the cheaper, lighter, portable one. “You think that things like price and the effort you put into a gift will matter, but the person you’re giving it to doesn’t see the work that went into it or the price tag—they just have the actual thing to focus on and how it will fit into their life,” says Nathan Novemsky, a professor of marketing at Yale University who has done quite a bit of research on gift giving himself.
In one of Novemsky’s recent studies, participants filled out a survey in which they imagined either giving or getting a gift certificate to a restaurant. Givers thought people would like a voucher for a five-star place a few towns over—but receivers preferred gift cards for a restaurant that was middle of the road but right around the corner. Both men and women tended to prefer the practical choice.
#2 Don’t overdo the gift wrap. When Novemsky told me about some research he is doing now that suggests wrapping a present in a plain brown paper bag—or not at all—might be better than something gorgeous and beribboned, I thought, “No way! This is total holiday heresy.” (I spend a couple of hours in Target every December carefully choosing my new palette of Christmas wrapping paper and ribbons.) But it made sense once he explained: pretty wrapping raises expectations for a gift and increases the risk of the receiver being disappointed if the present doesn’t live up to them. “It’s like giving someone a Sears gift card in a Tiffany box,” he says. So unless you’re sure the gift is going to kill—there’s a Tiffany ring in that Tiffany box—consider toning down the packaging.
This year, instead of filling John’s stocking with random stuff I think he’ll like, I’m going to ask him to cc me on his Christmas gift e-mail to his mom. And then I’ll get him exactly what he wants.
