Giving people presents is part of life, and sometimes it's difficult. But a new study on giving gifts offers some insight. Published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the data shows giftees would rather receive emotional tributes that tug at their heartstrings than commercial goods that match their personalities. They'd also prefer a less valuable gift with more sentimental meaning than the other way around. One issue: the study did not look at situations in which recipients have asked for specific gifts ahead of time, so they can't say if the sentimental rule would apply in these cases.