In terms of Christmas gifts, two profiles of buyers emerge.
The first, the Marie Kondos of the present, defy the laws of efficiency, buy their presents as of the summer sales and declare the operation finished in the first fortnight of December.
The latter inflict a frantic race a week before Christmas Eve, when the worst of them go so far as to sweat on D-Day in the stores.
Beyond the disorganized classics and the kings of procrastination, the repetition of this diagram can translate specific characteristics of the “offerers”, all in a more or less conscious way.
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To understand the profiles of these out-of-class latecomers, clinical psychologist Samuel Dock first looks at our time.
Because according to the professional, the behavior of these buyers says something about the society in which we operate.
Understand a "cult of urgency, where it has become difficult to arrange time for the pleasure, for the choice of the gift".
Thus, many of us postpone the end-of-year mission "as if it were an obligation, a task from which we cannot escape anyway", specifies the psychologist.
Christmas is extremely anxiety-provoking
Behind the street lights and Christmas carols, there is also the obligation to have a good time and to bring family conflicts under the table on D-Day; even more at the end of the year impacted by the pandemic. Less magical, therefore. “Christmas is extremely anxiety-provoking. So giving gifts at the last minute also allows you to postpone the fateful moment, ”says Samuel Dock. Without forgetting the fatigue of the end of the year and the health instructions in force which do not require going out shopping. "Some people simply do not have the energy for gifts", comments for his part Saverio Tomasella, doctor in human sciences and psychoanalyst.
Of course, the purpose of the Christmas present is to please its recipient (except in an exceptional family context).
But not only.
Here is what can block more than one when it comes to choosing it.
In reality, a donation is never just a simple donation, and it could well be that the Goncourt 2020 offered to our sister-in-law symbolizes much more than what we think.
“Behind the gift, there are sometimes emotional and diplomatic issues.
The whole family bond is played out through the object, the relationship to the other, ”explains Samuel Dock.
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
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Recycled plates, 04.91,
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Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
Christmas 2021: Gift ideas Made in France
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Unconscious resistance
Until I buy nothing, Christmas didn't start Samuel Dock, psychologist
Some may also be hostile to the party. “Beyond the purchase of postponed gifts, it is also the party itself that is being delayed. Finally, "as long as I do not buy anything, Christmas has not started" ", illustrates the psychologist. In others, one can find a weariness, a feeling of wear and tear vis-à-vis December 25. In practice, very late entry into stores can be seen as a demand, a “form of unconscious resistance, a way of saying 'I don't like this party',” says psychoanalyst Saverio Tomasella. The professional even identifies in certain cases, revenge on the mental load suffered during the rest of the year. "VS'is too unconscious to be asserted in this way but there can sometimes be behavioral compensation. "
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Trauma and expense
By delaying the purchase of gifts as much as possible, some, "victims of traumas linked to the period, may unconsciously reject a traumatic memory", emphasizes Samuel Dock.
Finally, in a lighter register and beyond the liabilities that everyone has with December 24 and 25, the psychoanalyst Saverio Tomasella identifies among the latecomers, profiles not very creative, thrifty or even not very generous.
He specifies: "Unconsciously, the more you postpone, the more you have the impression of preserving your wallet."
* Originally published in 2018, this article has been updated.
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