Ho! Ho! Who? Parent promotion of belief in and live encounters with Santa Claus
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Abstract
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Cultural fictional characters (e.g. Santa Claus / Tooth Fairy) are promoted as real; children must learn their true status.
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Santa Claus, in particular, has the conundrum of existing as a live person at malls and museums at Christmas time.
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We found, counter-intuitively, that the more live Santa Clauses children are exposed to, the more likely they are to believe he is the “real” Santa.
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The more parents promote Santa, the less likely children are to question who the live Santa actually is.
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Child age was not associated with parental promotion or with belief in the reality status of this fictional character.
There is a long enduring lay notion that children must be taught the difference between fiction and reality. Yet, cultural fictional characters such as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are widely promoted as real. With Santa Claus, children are faced with an additional conundrum: multiple live versions of Santa Claus seen at malls, museums and parades. In two studies we investigate how and when children come to understand this live version of a fictional, magical character. In both studies, we find parents are highly promoting of the live Santa as real, regardless of child age. In Study 1, we find the more live Santas children are exposed to, the more they believe a live Santa is the real Santa. In Study 2, we find the more parents promote Santa Claus, the less likely children are to question who live Santa is. Taken together, findings indicate parental promotion of Santa does not change much with age, and that amount of Santa promotion is negatively associated with understanding this live version of a fictional character.