For Christmas, Behavioral Economists (you know, the guys who say we’re predictably irrational), advise getting “him” a gadget and getting “her” something expensive and useless.
Excerpted from: The Behavioral Economist’s Guide to Buying Presents
Buying for a guy? Get him a gadget. Buying for a girl? Get her something expensive and useless.
University of Utah Professors Russell Belk and Laurence Coon found three main purposes for presents: social exchange, economic exchange, or a sign of “agapic” — that would be Greek for “selfless” — love.
In the social sense, gifts were seen as a symbol of commitment.
In the economic context, men saw gifts as a way to get sex.
Women, meanwhile, tended to be more agapic, giving out of the goodness of their hearts.
But what did men and women actually want?
Belk and Coon found women care about the symbolic value, whereas men are more interested in the utility.
So women are best off getting their guy a gadget.
Men are better off going sentimental. Or extravagant.
In his book The Mating Mind, University of New Mexico Professor Geoffrey Miller explained that the best gifts are “the most useless to women and the most expensive to men.” Flowers. Pricey dinners. Jewelery.
The less useful, the better.
Waste is the most efficient way to a woman’s heart.
Hey, I’m just reporting …
Tags: Behavioral Economics, Christmas
The Homa Files 
December 21, 2011 at 6:13 pm |
In the pursuit of intellectual curiosity I have been exploring how to make a number of gadgets. I want my next gadget to do this: Recognize one or multiple specific tones and connect different circuits depending upon the tone heard.
Does anybody know a good site to find easy guides? Or perhaps some suggestions of a common object that I can take and modify to make it do what I want?
Thanks