The gifts we keep on giving: documenting and destigmatizing the regifting taboo

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Consumer Behavior

Background:

• Regifting, the practice of giving a gift received from someone else to another person, is often perceived as a social taboo.
• There is a common assumption that original givers would be highly offended if they knew their gift was regifted.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the perceived and actual emotional responses of gift givers and receivers regarding the practice of regifting.
• To explore the underlying psychological factors, specifically beliefs about entitlement, driving these emotional asymmetries.
• To test an intervention aimed at destigmatizing regifting.

Main Methods:

• Five studies were conducted involving participants who imagined either regifting a present or having their gifted item regifted.
• Emotional responses and beliefs about entitlement concerning regifting were measured.
• An intervention introducing National Regifting Day as a normative standard was implemented to assess its impact.

Main Results:

• Participants anticipating regifting (receivers) believed original givers would be more offended than actual givers reported feeling.
• Receivers equated regifting with discarding a gift, whereas givers preferred regifting over discarding.
• An asymmetry in entitlement beliefs, where receivers felt givers retained rights over the gift, drove this discrepancy.

Conclusions:

• The negative emotional impact of regifting on givers is often overestimated by potential regifters.
• Beliefs about ownership and entitlement play a crucial role in the emotional response to regifting.
• Introducing new social norms, such as National Regifting Day, can mitigate negative perceptions and encourage regifting.