Every year, legend has it that Santa lavishes gifts on the good and gives a lump of coal to the badly behaved. It’s a tradition that’s supposed to encourage children to behave.
However, a British study shows that believing in Santa Claus is not enough to turn kids into models of kindness and sharing. A team of British and Japanese researchers, led by Rohan Kapitány of Durham University, found evidence of this by interviewing the parents of almost 400 children aged between four and nine, ahead of the holidays in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
For the purposes of the study, the parents were surveyed twice: first a few weeks before Christmas, then in the final run-up to this long-awaited celebration, in order to observe changes in their offspring’s behaviour.
The academics asked them, among other things, whether their children were generous, altruistic and caring or, on the contrary, whether they displayed more aggressive and selfish attitudes.
It turns out that believing in Santa doesn’t turn children into models of discipline. Contrary to what some parents might hope, their behaviour doesn’t improve as Christmas approaches, in the hope of receiving presents.
“Parents hold a lay-belief that verbally reminding their children that Santa is concerned with their behaviour should, in principle, influence their child’s behaviour – yet we find no evidence that this belief is justified,” the researchers explain in their paper, available via the OSF pre-publication platform.
On the other hand, traditions such as decorating the tree with family or singing Christmas carols may well have an effect on their attitude. “We report, for the first time, that a child’s behaviour actually improves as Christmas Day approaches, and though the effect is small it is primarily attributable to participation in Yuletide rituals.
“These results have practical and theoretical implications for the evolution of moralising religions in our species,” Kapitány and colleagues wrote.
In short, the real magic of Christmas lies not so much in the figure of Santa as in the rituals and preparations that make the holiday unique. Children don’t embrace the story of this white-bearded benefactor simply for the presents, but because he embodies the love and care of their parents.
So, despite his unlikely story and fairy-tale characteristics, the notion of Santa Claus is not a falsehood in their eyes.
“For many children, Santa is real, and a useful – perhaps indistinguishable – approximation of a God; Christmas is a ritual largely in the service of the suit of beliefs associated with Santa… and the ritual culminates with the arrival of presents, traditionally on Dec 25,” the paper reads.
In the end, Santa is not so much a figure to be believed in as a symbol that embodies the human capacity to create meaning, magic and connection, even from the imaginary.