Why do some people think that the amount of money you spend on a gift is the most important aspect gift-giving?

A jelly and I were talking in another thread about people spending oodles of money that they don’t have buying gifts for people.

Before I got married I had a friend that I hung out with. We were getting a mutual friend birthday presents. I selected something that my friend agreed our mutual friend would like (it was a fancy roach clip, actually :D), then asked how much it was. I told her and she said, “Well, you’re not spending enough. The more you spend on people the more they know how much you like them.”

It floored me then, and the idea still floors me. Everybody in the 90’s must have thought I hated their guts if they rated my affection for them based on the cost of their presents!