Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of questions from 29 to 36. Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in full force - both online and on foot - searching frantically for the perfect gift. Last year, Americans spent over $30 billion at retail stores in the month of December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other occasions throughout the year, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can engender ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many relish the opportunity to buy presents because gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger bonds with one’s closest peers. At the same time, many dread the thought of buying gifts; they worry that their purchases will disappoint rather than delight the intended recipients. Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive social process, serving various political, religious, and psychological functions. Economists, however, offer a less favorable view. According to Waldfogel (1993), gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources. People buy gifts that recipients would not choose to buy on their own, or at least not spend as much money to purchase (a phenomenon referred to as ‘‘the deadweight loss of Christmas”). To wit, givers are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that receivers would spend only 80 USD to buy themselves. This ‘‘deadweight loss” suggests that gift-givers are not very good at predicting what gifts others will appreciate. That in itself is not surprising to social psychologists. Research has found that people often struggle to take account of others’ perspectives - their insights are subject to egocentrism, social projection, and multiple attribution errors. What is surprising is that gift-givers have considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and gift-recipients, but nevertheless tend to overspend each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift. In the present research, we propose a unique psychological explanation for this - that is, that gift-givers equate how much they spend with how much recipients will appreciate the gift (the more expensive the gift, the stronger a gift-recipient’s feelings of appreciation). Although a link between gift price and feelings of appreciation might seem intuitive to gift-givers, such an assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we propose that gift-recipients will be less inclined to base their feelings of appreciation on the magnitude of a gift than givers assume. Why do gift-givers assume that gift price is closely linked to gift-recipients’ feelings of appreciation? Perhaps givers believe that bigger (that is, more expensive) gifts convey stronger signals of thoughtfulness and consideration. According to Camerer (1988) and others, gift-giving represents a symbolic ritual, whereby gift-givers attempt to signal their positive attitudes toward the intended recipient and their willingness to invest resources in a future relationship. In this sense, gift-givers may be motivated to spend more money on a gift in order to send a “stronger signal” to their intended recipient. As for gift‑recipients, they may not construe smaller and larger gifts as representing smaller and larger signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
Câu 1: What is the main idea discussed in the passage?
A. Gift-giving, despite its uneconomical downsides, cultivates a positive social process.
B. Gifts can serve as implicit signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
C. Gift-giving may have certain drawbacks alongside its positive qualities.
D. Gift-recipients are widely acknowledged as considerably experienced in gift-giving.
Câu 2: In paragraph 1, the word “ambivalent” is closest in meaning to _____.
A. unrealistic
B. conflicted
C. apprehensive
D. supportive
Câu 3: The author indicates that people value gift-giving because they feel it _______.
A. functions as a form of self-expression
B. is an inexpensive way to show appreciation
C. requires the gift-recipient to reciprocate
D. can serve to strengthen a relationship
Câu 4: The word “this” in paragraph 3 refers to gift-givers’ ________.
A. struggling
B. overspending
C. buying meaningful gifts
D. having considerable experience
Câu 5: The passage indicates that the assumption made by gift-givers in paragraph 3 may be ______.
A. incorrect
B. unreasonable
C. insincere
D. substantiated
Câu 6: The word “convey” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. transport
B. counteract
C. communicate
D. exchange
Câu 7: The authors refer to work by Camerer and others (paragraph 4) in order to _______.
A. offer an explanation
B. introduce an argument
C. support a conclusion
D. question a movie
Câu 8: Which of the following best describes the tone of the author?
A. criticizing
B. pessimistic
C. informative
D. ironic
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