A Study Done By Han, Nunes, And Preze

In the short story “The Gift of the Magi” written by O. Henry, is about a poor and young married couple by the names of Della and Jim. They are deeply in love and besides loving each other, they both hold something they love and cherish too. For Della, she loves her hair, while Jim loves his gold watch. This story is set during the time of Christmas, where everyone goes out of their way to buy presents for their loved ones. Whereas Della and Jim had to sacrifice their own assets that they love to buy a gift for each other. Without knowing that their gifts were going to be useless to them. Throughout the story, it shows the implicit idea of love and sacrifice has no boundaries. By using the language features of symbolism, irony and metaphor.

In his article, Reciprocity and the Power of Giving, Lee Cronk discusses the different cultural meanings placed upon the act of gift giving. The act of exchanging of gifts has many unique implications, which are based on the culture of the giver and the recipient. Cronk discusses the idea of reciprocity, which is the expectance of exchange associated with gift giving. Cronk brings up the example of “Indian Gifts” which was a term that white settlers connected to the Native American people’s expectation of receiving an equivalent gift after being given one. This expectation is rooted into the culture of the Native American people, which was misunderstood by the settlers. The real implication of

In the video, the family members have expressed how these items have a unique meaning to them, and to the rest of the town, as many have spent times at the store that was being auctioned.

Gift-exchange and commodity-exchange serve different purposes and functions in the society. According to Mauss, the exchange of presents does not serve the same

Objects have a powerful influence in our lives. Upon looking around at all my possessions, one pair of antique Everlasting leather boxing gloves, sewn with black thread, with half a glove torn off, brought back a memory in which changed the way people viewed me.

Big round eyes devoid of life stare directly at me. The body lays stiff, unanimated by the pounds of stuffing and the absence of senses. It’s brown fur rubs across my hand as I hold it’s existence. With paws facing forward and the tail posterior to the body, my dog plush was displaying it’s anatomical position. A gift given from my grandmother, my plush’s defining feature was it’s oversized black muzzle and the minute tongue that permeated through. Gifts are meant to hold sentimental value, which is part of the reason why gifts are exchanged today. Yet, is there anything else that makes gifts more intriguing to what we see today? Marcel Mauss, a French sociologist , published The Gift in which he studied Polynesian culture and the

For instance, if a couple had set their hearts on an elite, and therefore expensive, set of porcelain crockery with a certain unusual motif or pattern, or if they wanted a costly set of glasses, they could register their wishes in a department store and people could go there to purchase what they would like to give knowing that everybody else’s gifts will be in the same set.

The hypothesis of the study is the possibility of an existential gift being used more than social exchange and gift exchange (Frémeaux & Michelson 2011). The results found that existential gift exchange has a better outcome than social exchange and gift exchange because they are not obligated to give back something in return (Frémeaux & Michelson 2011). The examples of exchanging gifts show the internal variables that are hard to manipulate. It shows people do have a sense of indebtedness and depending on the situation, have a desire to return a favor when provided one. The authors Kube, Marechal, and Puppe (2012) continue the research on reciprocity and gift exchange through an experiment on monetary and nonmonetary gifts. They performed their experiment in the business setting to analyze how strongly workers reciprocate to gifts with higher productivity. The experiment was conducted in a naturally occurring work environment. There were three types of treatments: the baseline (control), money, bottle money upfront. In the money treatment, the workers received a monetary gift in the form of a 20% wage increase (Kube et al., 2012). In the bottle condition workers were given a thermos bottle with a value of seven euros and an extra seven euro bonus (equivalent to $8.65 USD using a currency convert calculator) (Kube et al., 2012).The results

Objects and the collection of objects is a source of human fascination and is a way of connecting us to our history, culture and personality. Collecting is a method of inscribing order, meaning and a sense of permanence to passing human experiences. “Collections and Connections” is the concept investigated in this unit and focuses the connections or relations you make between a collection and past memories, places or other objects. These connections can be emotional, logical or memorial. The collection in which I have been focusing on is coins and I want to interpret in my body of works how they connect the world.

A study by Killen et al. (1994) examined the level of weight and other variables associated with age of onset of eating disorder symptoms over a 3-year interval in a community sample of young adolescent girls. The objective of the experiment was to demonstrate the precursors of eating disorder symptoms in a community sample of young adolescent girls. The hypothesis stated that community based prospective studies are needed to understand what causes or influences the development of eating disorders and identify variables that could prevent them. “In general, the line of reasoning suggested by social learning explanations implicates prevailing social and cultural norms in the development of eating disorders” (Killen et al., 1994, p. 228) .

In The Gift and the Giver and AN Rich Man Son’s they both show how they both give. It also shows that give and wanted nothing in return.

Both research articles indicate that the consumer behavior of hipsters is prompted by the uniqueness of the article or item. Hipsters like to consider themselves unique and 'apart' from the mass. The conventional fashion, design, trend, or preference is not for them. Rather, they go for original, trendy, unusual, and outstanding items. Some of these items may sometimes be costly since they are in short demand and fashioned deliberately to appeal to a unique stance. Hipster consumer behavior, therefore, may seem to contradict with other consumer theories such as those that suggest that people follow mass appeal ( namely what the 'Joneses' do) or theories of social status where certain designer tags automatically brand the consumer (or wearer) as elite or privileged.

A study by Lechtenberg et al. (2015) points at another significant gendered difference: the components of therapy they found to be most helpful. According to Lechtenberg et al. (2015, p.98), while men and women both appreciate the use of male and female co-therapists and an emphasis on safety throughout the process, women were much more likely than men to value single-gender meetings before and after the conjoint sessions. While this may not have monumental implications, it does allow therapists to tailor their treatment, at least somewhat, around the particular aspects individuals find helpful. Men, who in general do not find these sessions particularly helpful, can be given alternative treatment.

The whole society links luxury products to social status. As a result, the psychological aspect, such as “Dream Value” encourages Chinese people to chase luxury products. Xiao Lu states the “Dream Value” that when “a luxury product has the capacity to make consumers dream of possessing it, whatever the nature of their attachment to it. They aspire to become part of what luxury products represent and, as soon as their finances permit, are very happy to fulfill long-held dreams by buying goods and brands that help them satisfy their personal and social aspirations” (Lu, 24). Even though luxury products are extremely expensive compared to the average Chinese economic level, sociological and psychological reasons drive people to the path of

Some luxurious goods are bought due to the tag implied of a status symbol, such goods tend to signify the purchasing power of those who buy them. These goods are not always better in quality or appearance than their less expensive substitutes. The main purpose of purchasing these goods is to display the wealth of their owners.