And part of that devotion is based on some fundamental needs and wants: enjoyment, distraction, being part of the crowd(that is why going to the movies remains another popular entertainment form despite more convenient and less expensive alternatives). Emotion rules the market place. We want to please and be pleased. We aspire to things we cant afford - but enjoy viewing them and imagining, what if?
And although our circumstances may be more straitened this holiday season, buy we do. Primarily gifts for others. And research is revealing that there is a method to pleasing others which holds lessons for family members, marketers and entertainers. It can be summed up thusly: providers think more is more, receivers think less is more.
The basic issue is that when we are offering or providing, we are are attempting to find the balance between cost and pleasure. We err in favor of volume over quality, with a dollop of cost-averaging thrown in. When we receive, we focus on the meaning of gift and what it says about the givers' view of ourselves, the recipients.
Despite our instinct to lard on the inexpensive stuff - sort of like the trimmings around a holiday turkey - the research demonstrates that a few wealth considered items will be more gratefully received than a bunch of less well-thought-out ones. So, as the holidays bear down, save some money and reap the rewards. JL
Jordan Weissman reports in The Atlantic:
It's the week before Christmas, and you're at Williams-Sonoma, picking out a gift for your food-nut boyfriend. After a meticulous round of research, you've settled on an 8.5-quart Staub Dutch oven, retail price $270. It's pricey, but nothing says "I love you" quite like French-enameled cookware. Then, in the corner of your eye, you spot the oven mits. They're bright red. They're $10. He could really use a new one, you think.
The big choice: Do you buy the mitts as a stocking stuffer? Or ignore them and head to the cash register? Believe it or not, there is a right answer
According to new research from Virginia Tech and the University of Michigan, you'd be better off buying the pot alone. When it comes to gift giving, less is much, much more.
The paper, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, found that consumers don't like packages that pair something expensive with something cheap. Think of the Dutch oven and the mitt. Or an iPod that comes with a single free song. To a consumer, the add-ons aren't a nice bonus. Instead, they devalue the entire deal.
Gift givers tend to think just the opposite -- that more is more. Same goes for most people who work with information. For example, think of those cookware infomercials that offer 7 different gizmos to go with your new counter-top convection oven.
WHY LESS REALLY IS MORE
The team reached its findings through a series of seven experiments that touched on everything from deals on gadgets to law enforcement. The research went well beyond consumer choices, and looked at the basic divergences in how we process information in different circumstances.
In one experiment, the team presented distinct sets of subjects with two separate deals for an iPod. One was a package that included the mp3 palyer, a free case, and one free song. The other only included the iPod and the free case. Subjects who were offered the second deal consistently said they'd pay more than those who had been offered the free track, even though their whole package was technically worth less.
In another experiment, subjects said that a $750 find for littering sounded more severe than a punishment that involved a $750 fine and two hours of community service. Meanwhile, when subjects were asked to step into the shoes of the marketer, or the law maker, they regularly took the more is better approach.
Humans are programmed to think differently when they're evaluating information than when they present it. Evaluators, like the boyfriend unwrapping his gift, tend to think about the whole picture. Instead of looking at all the pieces of a package individually and adding up the value, they tend to average it all out. So a dinky extra song makes an iPod look cheap by association. Presenters, such as marketers, think piecemeal. They look at each item sum up what it's worth. So they're predisposed to toss in the extra song, or the oven mitt.
The trick for a good gift-giver, or good marketer, is to think like the person they're trying to connect with. In one of the experiments, subjects told to think about the big picture when putting together a resume abandoned the more is more approach, and instead focused on a few appealing accomplishments. It worked.
So when you're doing Christmas shopping this year, think like your loved ones. Less is more.
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