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Showing posts from February, 2020

Why people have been giving gifts for thousands of years

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Why people have been giving gifts for thousands of years You’d be surprised to know the practical origin of exchanging presents. With the holiday season in full swing, gifts take center stage. But that's nothing new ... because, as it turns out, giving gifts is pretty well embedded in our natures. Dr. Hadas Weiss, an Israeli anthropologist at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, has found that people who give gifts want to do more than be nice; they want to help society run smoothly. "They want their activities to constitute a society wherein everyone helps everyone else in reciprocal fashion, to everyone's ultimate benefit," Weiss told From The Grapevine. And that's nothing new. In the past, gift-giving was more than just a nice thing to do: it was an integral foundation of society. For instance, everyone knows that before people invented money, they bartered. One person might trade  Israeli couscous  for, say, her neighbor's  freshly

The science behind giving good gifts

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The science behind giving good gifts Research shows that giving a bad gift can hurt your relationships. So how can you be sure you pick something your recipient will love? It’s the season to examine your holiday gift list. You’ll have to figure out who gets a present – but also how much you’re actually going to spend and, most importantly, what to get. In the UK, the average household  spends  around £500 on gifts during the traditional holiday season, equalling  Americans  who spend about $650. And although giving gifts can make you  happy , communicate your  feelings  toward the receiver and even  strengthen relationships , a less-than-stellar gift can have the opposite effect. “Choosing the wrong gift can be kind of risky for relationships because it says you don’t have anything in common,” says Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada and co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. Her research has

15 Reasons You Should Give Someone A Gift This Week

15 Reasons You Should Give Someone A Gift This Week With the commercialization of days like Valentines Day, Christmas, Mother’s and Father’s Days, gift giving can sometimes feel more like a chore than a genuine act of love. However, in a time of so many competing priorities, those designated days also give us a gentle nudge; a reminder to show our appreciation for those special people in our lives. If you ask us, any and every excuse to shower our loved ones with gifts is worthy of celebration. Here’s why: 1.      It feels darn good It’s in our DNA. Humans are hardwired to derive pleasure from giving. Our pleasure and reward centres actually light up and we receive endorphins from the act of gift giving. In fact, a study in 2009 by social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn and her colleagues found that people experienced more happiness when they spent money on others than when they spent it on themselves. As perfectly articulated by St Francis of Assisi, “for it is in givi

Why gifts are important in a relationship?

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Why gifts are important in a relationship? Gifts are valid tokens for affection without expectation of compensation. If you have an exercise lover in your life, you will need to  buy them a fitness related gift to motivate them. Popular fitness related gifts include a smartphone, waterproof headphones, sports shoes, smart body scale, a watch, a gym bag, personalized bottle, running belt, stealth core trainer, backpack, a massage gift card and many more. Below are reasons as to why you should buy your loved one a gift. 1. The  gift is an expression of love. What excites any human being than knowing there is someone who genuinely loves them. Your loved one will feel very much appreciated and cared.There is more to gifts than just the act itself, and the message behind it is what is most important. It is the best way to build a strong relationship with your loved one. yes even millionaires that have everything love gifts.  after all there are  inexpensive gifts for rich ta

Science of giving gift?

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Science of giving gift? “Choosing the wrong gift can be kind of risky for relationships because it says you don’t have anything in common,” says Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada and co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. Her research has also showed that undesirable gifts can sometimes negatively impact the receiver’s perception of a relationship’s future potential. Since you don’t want your holiday gift to cause more harm than good, how can you be sure to choose a gift the receiver will love? Psychology may have the answer. Don’t fret about the price Should you just splurge to show how much you care? Research has actually shown that spending more does not always guarantee a well-received gift. One study found that the more expensive a gift, the more givers expected recipients to appreciate it. But while givers thought spending more conveyed more thoughtfulness, receivers didn’t associate th