Tsutsumi

In Japan when it comes to gifts, it's not the inside that really counts. How you wrap and tie the package is considered especially symbolic and carries a lot of expression relative how you feel about the person.

This past weekend, we were giving a gift, for no particular reason, to my mother-in-law and a question came up as to whether or not it should be wrapped. Oddly, felt strongly that the answer was yes. In thinking about it later, I realized the reason I said yes had a lot to do with an article I read just before Christmas about the psychology of wrapping paper.

From Living the Scientific Life...

Do recipients actually like gift-wrapped presents more than unwrapped gifts?

According to a study that was published 15 years ago by Daniel Howard, professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, it appears so.

...In this experiment, half of the subjects received their bicycle cover in the manufacturer's plastic bag, while the other half received it wrapped in blue-and-white paper with a matching ribbon and bow. The subjects were then asked to rate their gift on three nine-point scales, ranging from undesirable to desirable, from bad to good and from foolish to wise. Those test subjects who received the gift wrapped bicycle seat cover gave it a higher overall approval rating (7.14) than those who received it unwrapped (6.06).

So why do we care about wrapping paper? Answering this question is a little more complicated, but the author argues that gift wrapping is a visual signal that is associated with a happy event in a person's life.

"Gift wrapping, through repeated pairing with joyous events in people's lives, has utility in cuing a happy mood which, in turn, positively biases attitudes," wrote Howard.