Research

Abstract: People often choose between new, unfamiliar experiences and familiar, tried-and-true experiences. This research demonstrates that, when people share an experience with someone else, they are more likely to choose a novel experience over a familiar one than when they have an experience alone. One key reason why this effect occurs: people expect new experiences to be awkward and uncomfortable, but having company lessens the awkwardness of trying something new. The fact that anticipated awkwardness drives these preferences also suggests certain nuances and boundary conditions. First, when the novel experience is made to be less awkward, people are more interested in trying it when they are alone. Second, some types of partners seem better at reducing the awkwardness of novel experiences than others. For example, sharing an experience does not increase preferences for trying something new if one’s partner is an acquaintance (as opposed to a friend). And, sharing an experience especially increases preferences for trying something new if one’s partner is familiar with the experience and can help navigate it. This research sheds insight into when consumers are willing to try new experiences and offers practical suggestions for making novel experiences more appealing to consumers.

Abstract: Social gatherings serve an important societal function by creating opportunities for connection, and at the heart of each gathering is a host. In a time of rising loneliness, how might individuals be encouraged to host more gatherings? Hosting, as an act of giving, can be deeply meaningful and gratifying, yet the responsibility and attentional demands associated with hosting may interfere with hosts’ ability to fully participate themselves. Across seven studies examining retrospective and prospective experiences, we identify an important negative consequence of being a host: hosts feel like they miss out on the gatherings they organize more than do guests. This happens because hosts’ feelings of responsibility over their gatherings lead them to divide their attention more than guests, rather than simply because hosts spend less time on social interactions or because they know more people there and thus have more to miss out on. We also investigate how to help hosts feel more engaged while preserving the meaning from the experience. We show that sharing hosting responsibility with a co-host does not reduce the feeling one has missed out but dividing responsibility by delegating elements to someone else can make hosts feel less attentionally divided; less like they miss out without diminishing the sense of meaning; and more interested in hosting again. Our findings illuminate how social roles and their attentional requirements shape shared experiences and reveal how to help hosts get more out of these experiences and be encouraged to create more opportunities for people to gather.

Abstract: Despite the sizeable market for products and services aimed at party hosts, little is known about how hosting—assuming primary responsibility for organizing a social gathering and overseeing the guest experience—shapes the choices consumers make for these shared consumption experiences. Although one might expect hosts to prioritize guests’ preferences, eight studies show that hosts are more likely to choose food, music, decorations, and other elements for a party that reflect their own preferences and identity over more generally popular options or options tailored specifically to their guests, compared to people making the same choices but not as hosts. This is driven by hosts’ feelings of psychological ownership and subsequent sense of entitlement and desire to share something about themselves with their guests. This tendency persists regardless of whether hosts provide the location or resources for the party or whether the event expressly celebrates the host themselves, and attenuates when the event expressly celebrates another person. Consequently, in contrast to marketers’ expectations, hosts are more interested in services marketed as self-reflective than as reflecting guests’ preferences. The findings shed light on hosting as a unique decision making context and provide insight into how the party industry can appeal to hosts.

Abstract: Gifts are often purchased for a specific occasion, like a birthday, Valentine’s Day, or a housewarming, yet little research has examined how the nature of gifting occasions influences gift preferences. Ten studies, including analyses of real purchases from gift registries and controlled experiments with incentive-compatible gift choices, demonstrate that gift givers prefer giving utilitarian (vs. hedonic) gifts more when the gift-giving occasion marks a life transition versus when it does not mark a life transition. This occurs both when the occasion is normatively seen as transitional (e.g., a baby shower) versus non-transitional (e.g., a birthday), and when the same occasion is framed as being more (vs. less) transitional. We further show that this diverging preference occurs because transitional occasions prompt gift givers to focus on the gift-recipient’s future life. Our studies also offer actionable insights for gift givers and marketers: when occasions seem more transitional, gift givers are better at choosing gifts that match recipients’ preferences for utilitarian gifts; and when a gift registry highlights the transitional nature of the occasion, givers are more likely to choose recipients’ requested utilitarian gifts. 

Abstract: Exchanging gifts can bring connection and joy, but at the same time, engender stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. One common but underexamined approach to dealing with the negative consequences of exchanging gifts is to stop giving and receiving gifts entirely. In two studies (N = 1397), we demonstrate that most people have at least one ongoing relationship in which they have ceased exchanging gifts, including a majority of a demographically representative sample. Further, we show that conflict due to gift giving is the most common reason why people stop exchanging gifts with a loved one. We also examine some of the consequences of abstaining from gifts, revealing that the decision to stop exchanging gifts does not necessarily harm the relationship as much as people expect, and can even provide some psychological and emotional benefits. Finally, we discuss alternatives to individual gift exchanges that can potentially maintain the festive spirit of gift giving but mitigate the stress it causes, and implications for marketers on how to motivate people to keep on giving.

Abstract: Consumers often donate shoddy, or subpar, goods. We find that consumers make these donations because the alternative—throwing goods away—feels wasteful. We further show that feeling wasteful presents consumers with a want/should dilemma: consumers want to donate subpar goods while sometimes understanding they should just throw them away instead.

Abstract: Getting people to try new products is important yet challenging for marketers. We propose that nontraditional forms of money, such as reward points or gift cards, make people more willing to try something they have not tried before. Across four preregistered studies, participants were more likely to choose a new option over a familiar option when they used gift cards or reward points rather than their own money. New options feel risky, but using nontraditional forms of money can lessen the impact of a bad outcome, providing “emotional insurance,” which increases people’s preference for novelty.