Studies of gift-giving up to the 1980s considered gift-giving to be a dyadic or interpersonal
phenomenon involving a distinct giver and a receiver of gifts. In the 1990s, researchers began to
acknowledge that the phenomenon of gift-giving can and does sometimes manifest as people
giving gifts to themselves (e.g., Mick and DeMoss, 1990a and 1990b; McKeage et al., 1993;
Weisfeld-Spotler et al., 2006).
Mick and DeMoss (1990b) conducted the first empirical research on the topic of selfgifting
and conceptualized self-gifts as “personally symbolic communication through special
indulgences that tend to be premeditated and highly context bound” (p.328). The study identified
reward and therapy as the predominant context for self-gifting and noted the following
commonalities between the processes of self-gifting and gifting others: gifting is a medium of
communication; there is some kind of exchange, e.g. in case of self-gifting it could be a reward
in exchange for a job well done; and specialness, i.e. it is more than the functionality inherent in
the tangible / intangible item. This observation provides insights into the motives that may drive
gift-giving, which may include underscoring the relationship between the giver and the recipient,
giving pleasure, and symbolizing the specialness of the occasion.