Have you been spending hours every day after work in trying to find that perfect gift for Christmas for your loved ones? Well, new research says that you're probably just wasting your time.

Researchers found that shoppers with multiple recipients in mind were likely to buy different, 'unique' gifts from those shopping for one person - rather than focusing on what the person would actually like.

For each study, researchers pre-tested one gift to be preferable to the others. They found that Christmas shoppers who buy all their presents in one sweep are less likely to buy presents that suit the recipient.

This has to do with "overindividuation," in which shoppers lose sight of what their recipients actually want, and everyone just ends up having to fake their disappointment underneath the Christmas tree. Way to bum everyone out scientists.

[Daily Mail]