How to value the presents you get at Christmas: It's what's in your head that counts, not under the tree.

Do you really know what your doing??

What people think is true--versus what actually is true--are frequently two different realities.  Almost everyone you and I know is pretty sure that the more expensive of two items is valued more than the less costly one.  Consider for moment how this works in real life:  What's more to be prized, an original painting or a canvas rendering of the same artwork?  Similarly, is a diamond ring more beautiful than its identical "twin" made of cubic zirconium?  

Of course, we all think we know the answer--we say, there is a difference!  Or so most people believe!  But hold the phone: I'm here to tell you that what most people think is wrong!  There's research that points to a very different conclusion than what most people are prepared to accept.  Let me explain.  

"Survey says..!"

Research on the differences in perceptual effects between an art world master like Rembrandt and "identical" copies of the same portrait by his students shows little-to-none in the way of differences to exist; in other words, the perceptual impact--i.e, the appreciation of the artwork--of the cheap student's rendering is viewed--when disguised as being the master's--as exactly the same.  Similar research points to cheap jug wine being rated the same as expensive bottles; the same results have been produced for expensive versus far-less-costly items in jewelry, beverages, shoes, and more.  

Last week, Johah Lehrer had a great short article in the Wall Street Journal, "Holiday happiness?  Not under the tree," where he raised the question, Does this mean that the only gifts worth giving--or getting--are those plastered with fancy logos?  Or, high price tags?  Here's what he concluded:

Quite the opposite. The real moral of this research is that even the most wonderful things in the world—and what's more wonderful than Rembrandt and fine wine?—aren't wonderful for purely material reasons. Instead, the joy and beauty we find in these objects depend on all those feelings and beliefs we bring to them, infusing the lifeless possessions with the life of the mind. It really is the thought that counts.

Given this psychological reality, we should reassess our holiday priorities, spending less time shopping and more time with the people we're shopping for.

If this is true--and the consumer psychologist inside of me says yes it does--it means that we need to consciously alter our sense of appreciation for valuing what we get for ourselves as well as from others.  What's called for is a refined, conscious internal gauge that says this:  what I get--or give--should be measured by the meaning I bring to the purchase, or the gift, not what others try to imposed on it.  

You have to be smart about buying, giving, and getting.  

There are at least three points worth making:

[1] For the things I buy myself, there should be an internal measure that strives to not be impressed by the externalities of brand or price or packaging, i.e., all those superficial meanings that other people--namely marketing professionals--work to suffuse an item with.  Instead, I need to measure my pleasure at how beautiful, functional, or pleasing the object is to me on my own terms.  

[2] For the objects I buy for others I care about, the gift ought to be steered by the power of my relationship and affection for the recipient, not especially guided by the Madison Avenue hype that automatically envelopes a transaction but provides only a thin veneer of meaning.  

[3] For gifts to people I don't know or especially care about [like gifts to business contacts or professional acquaintances], well, that's a different story--we're back to the relatively simple, superficial, and trivial measures of impact:  brandedness, price, and fashion statement.  

But the important point is, you've got to keep the gift-giving and gift-getting task-at-hand straight:  Who's getting what for whom and why.  You see, at some level, everyone has to be a side-walk consumer psychologist about things like this--it's a complicated world, even though modern marketing wants you to believe--and behave--differently!  
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