Tanya Chartrand

Marketing Research Seminar - On Campus Room T004

Tanya Chartrand
The Roy Bostock Marketing Professor - Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience - Duke University (USA)

Title:
“Money can buy me love:  Gifts as an acute form of social support”.

Abstract:
If you are having a hard day, what can someone else do to help you feel better? Maybe they could verbally comfort you or maybe they could give you a small gift. In eight studies, including an in-person dyadic-interaction study, we find that receiving a small material gift, such as a candy bar or flowers, improves receivers’ affect more than a supportive conversation with a close other does.
We investigate the mechanism for this effect and find that support receivers perceive a gift to be a larger sacrifice than a conversation. This occurs because gifts seem more receiver-focused (i.e., actions done solely to benefit the receiver) than do conversations. This difference in perceived sacrifice makes gifts (vs. conversations) more effective at promoting emotional recovery.