Christmas: Should I Buy a Physical Gift or an Experience? Which is Better?
Christmas will soon be upon us. Therefore, many of you will be thinking to yourself: What present should I get for a loved one? Would it be better to give a physical gift, a thing, or perhaps an experience?
Research published in the Journal of Consumer Research answers that question. The research has found that experiential gifts produce greater improvements in relationship strength than material gifts, regardless of whether the gift-giver and recipient consume the gift together.
The researchers Cindy Chan and Cassie Mogilner found that the relationship improvements that recipients derive from experiential gifts stem from the intensity of emotion that is evoked when they consume the gifts, rather than when the gifts are received.
"The reason experiential gifts are more socially connecting is that they tend to be more emotionally evocative," says Chan, an expert on consumer relationships. For example, most people can relate to the experience of thinking of a particular piece of music and in an instant they are carried, emotionally, back to the point in their lives when that particular piece of music had personal significance, such a widow reflecting on “Our tune”, evoking memories of when she and her husband were engaged, or perhaps a favourite piece of music that was popular when their first child was born. These thoughts conjure memories of people, places, relationships, even stimulating the olfactory sense and bringing to mind perhaps the aroma of a very enjoyable holiday. On the other hand, even a difficult period of life can be looked back on candidly as a moment of character-building.
It is said that we all remember everything that has happened to us, although perhaps we’re not always able to recall at any given moment; sometimes it takes just being asked the right questions to trigger memories from the past.
According to Chan and Mogilner, “If you want to give them something that will make them feel closer to you, give them an experience.” Giving experiential gifts is thus identified as a highly effective form of prosocial spending. Therefore, if you’re currently considering what to give your Mum for Christmas then consider giving a biographical interview. Your mother has a lot of life to reflect upon. After all, before she was a mum, she had a life as a woman without children.
Article Citation
Experiential Gifts Foster Stronger Social Relationships Than Material Gifts. Cindy Chan, Cassie Mogilner. Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 43, Issue 6, April 2017, Pages 913–931. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw067
If you’re undecided and are more inclined to present a physical gift with its accompanying wrapping, then have you considered buying as a gift a biographical interview from Your Biography? The uncertainty can be removed and still achieve the benefit of an experience-based gift. First, the experience. The sum of ALL of a person’s experience is consolidated in their biography. Therefore, the experience of talking about their life is an opportunity to review their life - the highs, the lows, happiness, sadness, successes, failures and everything else that comprises life. Second, the physical gift. Subsequent to the interview, Your Biography produces an edited audio recording of the interview of the person’s life. As you can see, this gift is not wholly an experience, nor is it wholly a physical thing - it is BOTH.
Of course, the physical part of the gift, the audio interview, can be listened to as often as desired by the recipient (and family and friends) for years to come.
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