BEHAVIORAL COSTS AS DETERMINANTS OF COST PERCEPTION AND PREFERENCE FORMATION FOR GIFTS TO RECEIVE AND GIFTS TO GIVE

Four experiments on the evaluation of gifts are reported, two on recei ving gifts and two on giving gifts. In a fractional factorial design w e investigated the effects of personal relationship, gift occasion and four cost categories, namely financial, time, psychic 1, and physical costs, on the preference for gifts to give and for gifts to receive. Participants judged gift scenarios after reading descriptions containi ng external characteristics of gift situations. In the experiments on receiving gifts, manipulation of the behavioral cost variables induced a cost perception and a corresponding preference effect: Gifts that w ere evaluated as more costly in terms of time, mental and physical eff ort were significantly preferred. The gift-giving experiments showed n o substantial relationship between perception of costs and preference for gifts to give, although mental effort appeared to exert a signific ant effect on both cost perception and preference for a gift to give. The results suggested that in receiving a gift the evaluation is affec ted by a perception of costs incurred, while in giving a gift the perc eption of costs did not lead to a change in the evaluation of the gift . Giving and receiving gifts are not reciprocal with regard to the typ e and number of factors that explain the relationship between costs an d valuation.