Five science-backed findings to give essential holiday gifts

When we're in giver mode, we tend to forget what truly makes a good gift, explains Mary Steffel, an associate professor of Marketing at Northeastern University.

Researchers like Steffel have identified some of the common traps we fall into as gift givers.

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In one study, Steffel found that givers tend to focus on someone’s traits, which can lead them to choose more specific, personalized gifts. These are less versatile compared what recipients actually want.

In a 2014 study, Steffel and colleagues conducted six experiments on gift-card giving. In one, they asked college students to give a $25 gift card to one or two friends: one friend at the same university, or that friend at the same school and another from another university.

For each person, they could choose between a card for their university bookstore, an Amazon gift card, or certificate to a sporting goods store. (The Amazon card was the most popular).

Givers ended up giving different gifts to each person, because they thought it was more thoughtful, but those gifts weren't what the receivers really wanted. (College students preferred the Amazon card.)

That was the case even the recipients weren't going to compare gifts with one another.

Ten days before Christmas, the scientists recruited 138 Amazon employees who planned to give 333 gifts in total.

A month later, researchers contacted the workers again and asked about giver satisfaction, receiver satisfaction, and the reaction when the gift was given.

The receiver's initial reaction to the gift significantly affected the giver's happiness. The receiver's long-term satisfaction with the gift didn't contribute to the giver's happiness.

But the receivers were more satisfied.

In a series of eight studies, scientists found that givers value fancy gifts, but receivers value practical ones.

In one study, the team recruited 189 pairs of friends at malls, food courts, and beaches. One person was allowed to give the other one of two pens.

One was a "state of the art" fancy pen but was heavy and cumbersome. The other was a "practical" pen with a long ink life.

The givers tended to prefer the fancy pen.

But the receivers preferred the practical one. They also said receiving the practical pen made them happier, and signaled that the giver cared more about them.

Even generic gift cards, like Amazon cards, are not thoughtless. Rather, they just happen to bring less joy to the giver. They still bring plenty of joy to the receiver.

A 2014 paper describes four experiments showing how people actually use gift cards. 100 Amazon employees were asked to use cash or a gift card to pay for a practical book on taxes or a new novel by their favorite author.

But if you still want to get the thrill of personalizing a gift, Steffel offers some final advice:

Personalize the card.