Socio-Psychological Functions and Types of Gifts in Business and Interpersonal Communication: Personal, Gender and Age Differences
The article deals with the issues related to the main socio-psychological and etiquette functions of a gift from the point of view of social psychology, business and interpersonal relations. Within the framework of the theoretical review, as well as on the basis of data obtained in an empirical study (90 St. Petersburg residents interviewed), the main functions and types of gifts in modern society, differences in views on a gift depending on the gender and age of respondents, attitude to a gift in connection to their personal features are analyzed. The results of the study showed that the gift is most often considered as a thank you, a compliment and a ritual, and the manipulative and utilitarian functions of the gift are supported to a much lesser extent by the respondents. The gender and age differences in the understanding of the semantic and etiquette content of the gift, as well as the relationship of the preferred type of gift with the personal features of the respondents were revealed. Men and women consider a gift as a compliment and gratitude to be the most significant. Men distinguish the interpersonal communicative function of a gift to the greatest extent, and women - the etiquette function. With age, the semantic load on the gift increases - on the one hand, attention and the meaning of the gift are important, and, on the other hand, money becomes more preferable as a gift. Gifts are more often given by independent people. Suspicious and wary people feel awkward and insecure when receiving gifts. For expansive and emotional people, the appearance of a gift, its design and packaging are important. Thus, the gift acts as a communicative and etiquette unit, which is mediated by the personal features of the participants in the gift situation. The factors of interpersonal sociability, social control, conformity and dominance, as well as the management of one's emotions and behavior play the greatest role.