Gift Recipients’ Beliefs About Occasion‐based and Nonoccasion‐based Gifts: The Importance of Signaling Care and Meeting Expectations in Gift Giving

Abstract

Most gifts are occasion‐based as opposed to nonoccasion‐based . That is, most gifts are given in the presence of a special occasion, rather than in the absence of one. Across a series of scenario‐based studies, the present research demonstrates that, despite occasion‐based gifts being much more common, recipients anticipate that their happiness levels will be quite high when receiving nonoccasion‐based gifts, varying little with gift quality. In contrast, they anticipate that their happiness levels will not always be high when receiving occasion‐based gifts, varying greatly with gift quality. These diverging outcomes arise because the caliber of gift that is required to signal care and thus meet a recipient’s expectation is much lower for nonoccasion‐based gifts than for occasion‐based ones. Critically, givers misforecast recipients’ anticipated positive reactions to nonoccasion‐based gifts, helping to explain why these gifts are, unfortunately, rather rare.