24/11/2025
According Anne Ueberbach, Assistant director/counsellor at The Counseling Place, she wrote that the magical time of christmas is generally associated with joy, love, giving and connection with loved ones. However, the holiday season can also be a big source of stress, anxiety, and conflict. But what drives our emotional responses to Christmas? Why do the festivities impact us so deeply?
1. The thrill of shopping releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, which can lead to impulsive buying decisions. This dopamine hit is amplified during Christmas, fuelled by clever marketing tactics such as special offers, Black Friday Sale, festive packaging, and creating a sense of scarcity.
The sensory overload of shopping environments, with factors like contrasting temperatures, enticing smells, music, and crowds, can overwhelm our cognitive processing, leading to irrational decision-making and hasty purchases. As a result, we're more likely to buy on impulse, driven by the promise of happiness and the pressure to purchase, rather than making thoughtful and rational choices.
2. Gift-giving is a ubiqueason, with many of us spending hours selecting, purchasing, and wrapping gifts for loved ones. But what drives our behaviours around gift-giving? Research suggests that gift-giving is motivated by a complex array of psychological factors, including altruism, reciprocity, and social status.
Altruism, or the desire to help others, is a key driver of gift-giving behaviours. When we give gifts, we experience a sense of pleasure and satisfaction, which can be linked to the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and oxytocin. Interestingly, research suggests that spending money on others can bring more happiness than spending it on ourselves. However, it's essential to be mindful of financial limits to avoid stress. Ultimately, it's the thought and effort behind a gift that matters most, not the price tag.
Reciprocity, or the expectation of receiving gifts in return, is also an important factor, as it helps to maintain social relationships and reinforce feelings of mutual.
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