Communicating Through Gift-Giving (ep.147)

Gift-giving is a symbolic form of communication. Are you a good gift-giver? Andrea shares research-based tips about what matters and what doesn’t, so you can think about gift-giving more rationally. Here’s a hint: We should worry less about how much money we spend. It’s typically the “low substance, high sentiment” gifts that are appreciated. It really is the thought that counts!

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Talk About Talk Podcast Archive

GIFT-GIVING RESEARCH

Talk About Talk ep17: What Our Possessions Say – https://talkabouttalk.com/17-what-our-possessions-say-with-russell-belk/

Mauss, Marcel (1924) THE GIFT https://archive.org/details/giftformsfunctio00maus/page/n9

Belk, Russell W. (1976) “It’s The Thought That Counts: A Signed Digraph Analysis of Gift-Giving” Journal of Consumer Research

Belk & Coon (1991) “Can’t Buy me Love: Money, Dating & Gifts” Association for Consumer Research 

Geisler, Markus (2006) “Consumer Gift Systems” Journal of Consumer Research 

Sherry, John F. (1983) “Gift-Giving in Anthropological Perspective” Journal of Consumer Research

Sherry, McGrath & Levy (1993) “The Dark Side of the Gift” Journal of Business Research

Ward, Morgan K., & Broniarczyk, Susan M. (2011) “It’s Not Me, It’s You: How Gift Giving Creates Giver Identity Threat as a Function of Social Closeness” Journal of Consumer Research

Wooten, David B. (2000) “Qualitative Steps Toward an Expanded Model of Anxiety in Gift-Giving” Journal of Consumer Research

Professor Russell Belk:  https://schulich.yorku.ca/faculty/russell-w-belk/

TRANSCRIPT

Well, hello there! Wow – the year is almost over.  Can you believe it? It’s such a cliché, but the years really do go by fast.

As I was planning episodes for the end of the year, I kept going back to one of my favorite topics: Gift giving.

Many of us mark the end of the year with a gift. It could be a personal gift – for a family or friend.  Or it might be professional gift for a client or a colleague. Whether you’re celebrating the Winter Solstice or Saint Nicholas Day, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, Bowdee Day , Shōgatsu, or Maybe you’re just celebrating the new calendar year. Chances are you’ve got some shopping to do for other people. This is where I can help you.

Even if you’re done your shopping for the year, I promise there are some insights in this episode that you can keep with you for every gift giving opportunity you have. – Again, whether professional or personal. The insights that you’re going to hear in in a minute all apply.

Welcome to Talk About Talk episode #147.  Im going to introduce this topic with a few of my favorite insights, then you’re going to hear an episode I recorded a few years ago on this topic.  That was way back at episode #38. When I just re-listened to that episode, I realized it’s ALL there. You’ll learn a lot – I promise.

Certainly, a few things have changed since I recorded episode #38 on gift-giving a few years ago. For starter, there’s AI.