Giving A Gift You Like Makes You Feel Closer To The Recipient, Study

Most people give gifts that the receiver would like, according to dailymail. However, one psychological study shows that giving a gift that you like is a selfish attitude that however is also a better approach.

By giving a gift that reflects you, not the receiver's tastes or personality, makes him or her feel "emotionally closer" to you.

The researchers surveyed 528 people to ask what gifts they would prefer. Most of them felt that gifts about their own interests would be better than those of the receiver's.

However, conducting a series of experiments showed the opposite. In one experiment, conducted in a shopping centre before Mother's Day, psychologists asked 78 shoppers to buy cards for their mothers. While half were asked to buy a card that "revealed" your true self, the others were asked to get cards that reflected their knowledge of the recipients. Those who bought cards reflecting themselves felt that they were closer to their mothers than the others.

In another experiment, a 100 were asked to select a song from iTunes to gift to their friend, relative or romantic partner.

While half of them were told to gift a track showing their own personality, the other half were told to reveal the other's personality.

Again, those who gave gifts that revealed their own personality felt closer to the receiver. The "emotional closeness rating" was not impacted by what the recipient felt.

The authors, Lara Aknin of Simon Fraser University in Canada and Lauren Human of the University of California, explain that "people may well be advised to offer more self-reflective gifts if building stronger social connections is the underlying goal".

While "giver-centric" gifts is unusual, giving gifts reflecting the recipient's interests is tough for the giver and "may at times reveal a lack of knowledge that could be detrimental to relationship closeness."

However, in the long run, the technique might backfire, signaling "self-obsession or narcissism".