Gift-giving is an economically significant area of consumer behavior. For we are constantly buy
gifts: for Christmas and Mother's Day for birth and baptism for the start of school and exams
for engagements and weddings for birthdays or as souvenirs. Moreover gift-giving is a very
important psychological phenomenon based on voluntariness but also representing a duty and
requiring compliance with rules. Thus gift giving is by no means always associated with joy
but also with stress in the search for a perfect gift and disappointment when gifts fail.The
book presents central results of psychological research on gift-giving. These provide answers
to the following questions among others:What 'secret' rules of giving and receiving do we
follow?What messages do we send with our gifts?How do certain characteristics - such as the
amount of the price or empathy - influence satisfaction with a Gift-giving is an economically
significant area of consumer behavior. For we are constantly buy gifts: for Christmas and
Mother's Day for birth and baptism for the start of school and exams for engagements and
weddings for birthdays or as souvenirs. Moreover gift-giving is a very important
psychological phenomenon based on voluntariness but also representing a duty and requiring
compliance with rules. Thus gift giving is by no means always associated with joy but also
with stress in the search for a perfect gift and disappointment when gifts fail.The book
presents central results of psychological research on gift-giving. These provide answers to the
following questions among others: · What 'secret' rules of giving and receiving do we follow?·
What messages do we send with our gifts?· How do certain characteristics - such as the amount
of the price or empathy - influence satisfaction with a gift?· What mistakes should we avoid
when giving gifts in romantic relationships?· When is a monetary gift appropriate and when is
it not? The Author Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Bernd Stauss held the Chair of Service Management at
the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.What mistakes should we avoid when giving gifts
in romantic relationships?When is a monetary gift appropriate and when is it not?The
presentation of psychological gift-giving research is supplemented by references to gift-giving
episodes in fiction by authors such as Paul Auster Jonathan Franzen Margaret Mitchell and
Thomas Mann. These illustrate the scientific findings and allow us to emotionally comprehend
the experience of giving and receiving.The AuthorProf. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Bernd Stauss held the
Chair of Service Management at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
