...Interpretation of Gift-giving Behavior in Modern Norwegian Society Iver Mysterud, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway. Email: mysterud@bio.uio.no Thomas Drevon, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway (Current address: USIT, Web gruppa, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1086 Blindern, NO-0317 Oslo, Norway) Tore Slagsvold, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway Abstract: We have studied gift giving at Christmas among 50 graduate students in Norway. The students invested more the closer the coefficient of relatedness. However, partners ranked highest, which is natural for people at the start of their reproductive career. All students gave to their parents, siblings, and children, most gave to their grandparents, and only a third gave to some, but not all, of their genetic aunts/uncles. Twenty percent gave to first cousins, and none to second or third cousins. Similar patterns for gifts received were found. There were also sex differences (e.g. women had larger exchange networks than men), and birth order effects. Firstborns spent more on relatives than laterborns. However, middleborns gave more to their male friends than both firstborns and lastborns. We conclude that the results are consistent with theories of kin selection, reciprocity, sex differences and birth order effects. Keywords: gift giving, kin selection, reciprocity...
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...Psychology of Gift Exchange Mayet, C. & Pine, K. J. University of Hertfordshire Internal Report 2010 Gift giving is a social, cultural and economic experience; a material and social communication exchange that is inherent across human societies and instrumental in maintaining social relationships and expressing feelings (Camerer, 1988, Joy 2001). Research within different disciplines to gain insight of gift giving behaviour has continued for over forty years. Gifts are bestowed in celebration of key life events, a medium for nurturing personal relationships, to encourage economic exchange and to socialise children into appropriate behaviour patterns (Belk, 1979). Obligations within a community require that individuals are required to give, receive and to reciprocate (Mauss, 1954). In his essay the French anthropologist-sociologist Marcel Mauss (1954), presented a theoretical analysis of the gift-giving process, that was based on his examination of giftgiving amongst various primitive, secluded, or ancient societies. He concluded that giftgiving is a self-perpetuating system of reciprocity and summarised three types of obligations which preserve gift-giving: 1. The obligation to give. 2. The obligation to receive. 3. The obligation to repay. The requirement to give may be ingrained in religious or moral necessities, with a strong need to recognise and maintain a status hierarchy and to establish or maintain peaceful relations, or merely the expectation of reciprocal giving. These motives...
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...Megan Coburn Professor Tabitha Kenlon ENGL1111 19 March 2013 Giving gifts to get what we want- Gifts with an Ulterior Motive For thousands of years communication has been construed ambiguously. Regardless of whether it’s what we are feeling or what we need, the fact remains that humans have a hard time conveying everything they want to say during conversation (with verbal speech) and, likewise perceiving it. With regard to these factors, I wish to examine the underlying motives behind the process of gift giving, throughout the centuries, in different contexts and across various cultures. Individuals offer gifts, symbolically, for many reasons and in varying circumstances. Gifts may be distributed ritually, or in such a way that they distinguish hierarchies. They may also be used as a sign of affection when wooing a partner and are frequently utilized in business relations. It is important to note that there exists a difference between gifts given to other people and gifts given to oneself. A gift giving behavior is defined as a “process of gift exchange that takes place between a giver and a recipient.” (Keng, Kau Ah, Wang, Quain, and Mohammed Abdur Razzaque, 214) In the opinion of Schall, “culture is a rule-based phenomenon,” in other words, to be considered actively apart of a culture one is required to observe and conform to all of the implied and tacit rules that society deems apropos. Circumstance or situations are an important aspect of these untold rules that...
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...in this situation, the consulting firm ICC, who specializes in international and cross-cultural business predominantly in China, has been hired to provide quick feedback in the Chinese language and culture. One part of the memo is particularly eye-catching; it states the following: “You should plan to spend at least three weeks in Beijing, and we should seek (and plan for) daily meetings with various MOI officials. The meetings should be staggered so that we meet with each relevant official individually every 2 or 3 days while in country. At each meeting Meridian should begin the meeting by presenting the MOI official(s) with a gift, and the value of gifts received by each official should increase with each successive meeting. We recommend that you choose gifts from the tiered lists in Appendix A. It is likely that MOI officials will present you with gifts as...
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...a man, she should extend her hand first. Women friends greet with a kiss on each cheek, starting with the left and alternating cheeks. Married women kiss twice, while a single woman receives a third kiss. 1 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT First names should normally be used, but titles are important. In business, men are addressed as "senhor" plus their surname, while women as "senhora" plus the surname. Business cards (either in your language or Portuguese) are a necessity when greeting in business meeting. But Brazilians need to know who they are doing business with before they can work effectively. Gift giving Giving a gift is not necessary during a first meeting. A relaxed social situation is the best time to present a gift. If invited to a Brazilian's house, bring the hostess flowers or a small gift. If you did not...
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...Sayler Sociology 101006 Professor Megan Cortez 7 March 2016 Weirding the Normal: A Colorado State- Pueblo Football Game The Caplow article is about Rule Enforcement without Visible Means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown. This article talks about how people in the town of Middletown would give gifts. The town had gift giving for Christmas set up in many different ways. Some ways the town would do it were “Participants in this gift system should give (individually or jointly) at least one Christmas gift every year to their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters; to the current spouses of these persons; and to their own spouses” (Caplow 1315). The article also talks about Christmas lights, decorations, the tree rule, the wrapping rule, the gathering rule, the dinner rule, the gift selection rule, and the scaling rule. Caplows article goes more in-depth about how each family is supposed to honor Christmas. The tree rule, for example, says “of the forty-five married respondents with children under eighteen only two of families did not have trees” (Caplow 1308).The wrapping rule says that “a subsidiary rule requires that the wrapping be appropriate, that is, emblematic and another subsidiary rule says that wrapped gifts are appropriately displayed as a set but that unwrapped gifts should not be so displayed” (Caplow 1310). There were many different rules for many situations. For this paper I decided to write about my experience at a college football game. This game was located at...
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...My Spiritual Gifts Part 1 [pic] Eunice T. Payne June 5, 2014 Revised August 13, 2014 INTRODUCTION When I was asked to go online and take a spiritual gift test my first thought was, (“Lord what the world is coming to”?) We really have to rely on the internet for everything these days?” Then I thought hey why not take it what can it hurt, I’ll go on and humor them. As I started to read the questions I felt like the questions needed more substance or needed to be worded differently; not realizing the devil was trying to discourage me from reading what I was about to find out. \ By the time I finished the test it read PASTOR, FAITH, GIVING. Each word had a meaning or explanation for each one. I looked real hard at “Pastor” and laugh then I called my son who is a minister and yes he’s from the old school like his momma. I said son I just took this test and explained to him what is was for. Of course he had the same reaction as I did when I was told about the site. He laughed. Well as we went on in conversation I gave him the end results and said now what I look like being a Pastor. I mean I have been around a lot of spiritual gifted people for most of my life and have been told by several that there’s an anointing on my life or that my light shines bright and have a spirit of victory, but never did I hear anyone say I would be a pastor or fit those shoes. Then a voice said you have been ministering to people young and old for over 20 years and you don’t...
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...Personalized Gift In this day and age gifts have lost their meaning. Everyone is so caught up in their busy lives they forget to put meaning into their gifts. It is time to change this up. One way to do this is by giving personalized gifts to your loved ones. These gifts comes in several varieties. Below you will find some popular gift ideas and why you should choose them. Monogram Jewelry This monogram jewelry comes in a different styles, from necklaces to bracelets you can't go wrong. When you go with customized jewelry you show the person you are giving it to that you put some thought into it. Must jewelry that can be personalized, you not only get to add whatever initials you want to it, but you also get to choose the colors as well. Another great thing about monogram jewelry is...
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...if it is not yet on season. Having a community service there with some of the kids is like celebrating Christmas emphasizing the joy of loving and giving. The Christmas is in my heart; the nursing of those little kids, the playing with them, and the giving of gifts to them are just some of the affirmation of the true spirit of Christmas I felt while doing the service. Second, all that we have is indeed a great gift from our Loving Father. Through this activity, I’ve come to realized how lucky we are to have our loving parents with us in our lives. The kids made me more love my parents and appreciate every single thing they’re doing for us, their children. Third, these kids are not sinister instead they are so lucky. They are lucky for they have been saved from experiencing a more hurtful one and are now being taken cared of those people who are all so warm and caring. They are lucky for they have bunch of sisters and brothers who will heed them every time they needed them the most and unlike their parents, will never leave their side. Fourth, the true essence of love. Even if we just had a short time bonding with them, I had learned the true essence of love. That you can give your love even to those who you just met and make friends with. And that love is the best thing you can give to someone unconditionally. It is the greatest gift you can share with especially to those who is in need of it. Lastly, I’ve learned how intelligent...
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...Allan Ritch CHMN 201-D01 LUO March 31, 2014 Spiritual Gifts Paper PART ONE: What are your top two spiritual gifts? Do you agree with the results? Why or why not? My two dominate spiritual gifts as determined by taking the “Spiritual Gifts Analysis” on www.churchgrowth.org are (1) Administration and (2) Exhortation. I completely agree with this assessment. Having been in the administration field most of my adult life, in one capacity or another, I see that this gift has had an influence upon me. I am definitely a take-charge type of person when it comes to something that I am enthusiastic and passionate. The analyses pointed out that people with this gift tend to count on others to take care of the small details and are gifted delegator. I am definitely that type of person in most situations. I do not like to micro-manage others or be micro-managed. I tend to take on many tasks myself just so I can control the outcome and results. I tend to lack patience at times when a detailed explanation is required and expect that others already know how and what the goals are. The gift exhortation is a direct complement to administration. While administration directs and organizes, exhortation teaches, counsels, and encourages. I have not always seen this gift within my character, although as I look back I can see that this gift has been in the development stage for quite some time. The analysis advises against interrupting people and allowing pride to be the primary motivator...
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...a. The Gift The aporia that surrounds the gift revolves around the paradoxical thought that a genuine gift cannot actually be understood to be a gift. In his text, Given Time, Derrida suggests that the notion of the gift contains an implicit demand that the genuine gift must reside outside of the oppositional demands of giving and taking, and beyond any mere self-interest or calculative reasoning (GT 30). According to him, however, a gift is also something that cannot appear as such (GD 29), as it is destroyed by anything that proposes equivalence or recompense, as well as by anything that even proposes to know of, or acknowledge it. This may sound counter-intuitive, but even a simple 'thank-you' for instance, which both acknowledges the presence of a gift and also proposes some form of equivalence with that gift, can be seen to annul the gift (cf. MDM 149). By politely responding with a 'thank-you', there is often, and perhaps even always, a presumption that because of this acknowledgement one is no longer indebted to the other who has given, and that nothing more can be expected of an individual who has so responded. Significantly, the gift is hence drawn into the cycle of giving and taking, where a good deed must be accompanied by a suitably just response. As the gift is associated with a command to respond, it becomes an imposition for the receiver, and it even becomes an opportunity to take for the 'giver', who might give just to receive the acknowledgement from the other...
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...The main, general theme of this story by O'Henry is that giving is the greatest gift of all. Della gives up her most cherished possession, her beautiful hair, to get a gift for her husband, Jim. She buys him a fob for his favorite possession--a pocket watch. Jim sells his pocket watch to buy beautiful combs for Della to adorn her hair. Both gave up their most valued possession in order to give something to the one they loved. The story is classic O'Henry with well developed characters, a city setting for the impoverished pair of young marrieds, and an ironic twist to the end of the story. Two aspects of one theme that run together in this story are sacrifice and love. Jim and Della already possess the greatest gifts they can ever possess: they have each other's love, a love that is willing to sacrifice for that love. They are compared to the Magi, who knelt at the manger where the infant Jesus lay and brought gifts to honor him. But they knew, the Magi, that their gifts were small insignificant tokens compared to what this infant child would give to them. They honored him, just as Della and Jim honor each other by sacrificing their prize possessions to buy the other a worthy gift for Christmas. It is the sacrifice involved in this process that is at the heart of the theme--unselfish love, which is rare and should be cherished. In O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," the theme of the story is that of selfless giving from the heart, like that of the magi or wise men in the Christmas...
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...Taylor Croft Fisher English Honors 4 24 September 2017 Gold and Gift-Giving During the Anglo-Saxon era, gold and gift-giving was something that was used as a motivation for people to make heroic moves. No one just walked around giving out gold to everyone, it was earned. Today, money is earned by Gold was important to Anglo-Saxons because it showed the success of heroes and their characteristics of a hero, and their character. “For this, this gold, these jewels, I thank our Father in heaven, ruler of Earth- for all of this, that his grace has given me, allowed me to bring to my people while breath still came to my lips. I sold l=my life for this treasure, and i sold it well” (CR lines 200-205). The Anglo-Saxon era is very similar to the world right now because money still rules the earth and everything is surrounded by money. Today, gifts are given out to everyone. They don’t have to do anything heroic, they could just be a friend or...
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...English 1102 “The Gift of the Magi” “The Gift of the Magi” is a very touching story written by O’Henry. This story is often told during the Christmas season and teaches the true meaning of gift giving. The main characters in the story are Jim and Della. They are a very poor married couple that lives in a ragged flat with only two prized possessions. Della's beautiful, brown, knee-length hair is one of the two great prized possessions of the poor couple. Her hair was gorgeous and she loved it. The other is Jim's gold watch that was passed down from his grandfather and father. Jim also loved his watch. The story opens with Della counting one dollar and eighty seven cents. It is one day before Christmas and she wants to buy her husband Jim a gift. She cries hysterically because there was not enough money to buy a gift. The story continues as Della walks to the mirror and gains her composure. She looks at her hair, pulls it back, and walks out of the door. Della walks to Madame Sofronie's hair goods shop, and she sells her hair for twenty dollars. She now has twenty-one dollars and eighty seven cents. After Della sells her hair, she goes to several different stores looking for Jim’s gift. She looks for several hours until she finds the perfect gift. The gift she finds seems to be made perfectly for Jim’s watch. Della finds a platinum fob chain. As soon as she saw the chain she knew it was perfect. The chain seemed to be like Jim with its quietness and value. The new chain...
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...Cultural Environment of China Nowadays, the core of economic is move gradually from America to China. However, not many business people are familiar with Chinese culture, so study the cultural environment of China become the first mission. Business people will contact with Chinese business people and officials, so they have to understand Chinese culture deep enough. Below will list a few cultural facts in China. Giving Gift Etiquette "Unlike many countries, the giving of gifts does not carry any negative connotations when doing business in China."(2012) In, China exchanged gifts in a celebrations as a thanks for assistance. In addition, the business gifts should be always reciprocated. They will make a same value gift to reciprocate. Therefore, do not be an iron rooster for the gift given to Chinese business people. Face "Roughly translated as 'good reputation', 'respect' or 'honour,' one must learn the subtleties of the concept and understand the possible impact it could have on your doing business in China."(2012) There are some categories of the face situation. "1) where one's face is lessened through their involvement in an action or deed and it being exposed. The loss of face is not the result of the action, but rather it's being made public knowledge. when face is given to others through compliments and respect. 3) face is developed through experience and age. When one shows wisdom in action by avoiding mistakes their face is increased. 4) where face is increased...
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