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EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Several papers have shown that consumers sometimes err when gift-giving (for a review, see Galak, Givi, and Williams 2016). We propose that consumers also sometimes intentionally give suboptimal gifts. Specifically, we hypothesize that gift-givers are averse to giving gifts that compare favorably to their own possessions because doing so would lead them to like their possessions less, and thus instead give alternative gifts that do not compare favorably to their possessions, even when these alternative gifts are known to be lesspreferred.
To test these hypotheses, we employ several studies that follow a similar methodology: Participants imagine there are two product categories (e.g., sunglasses and headphones). Next, some imagine they own average sunglasses and great headphones, while others imagine they own great sunglasses and average headphones. Participants then choose between giving a recipient (who does not own sunglasses or headphones) above-average sunglasses or aboveaverage headphones. In some studies, it is not made clear which gift the recipient would prefer. We predict that in these studies, participants will be less likely to give a gift when it compares favorably to something they own compared to when it does not. For example, when participants own average sunglasses (headphones) and great headphones (sunglasses), they will be less likely to give the aboveaverage sunglasses (headphones), because doing so would lead to a lesser liking of their average sunglasses (headphones). In other studies, it is made clear that the recipient prefers one of the gifts. Here, we predict that most participants will choose the preferred gift, but...