Research on kids’ indifference to, or fear of, Santa Claus
Posted by Marc Abrahams in Improbable Research
Professor John Trinkaus
did several studies documenting the prevalence of indifference or fear among
kids visiting Santa Claus in a shopping mall, we remind you.
Professor Trinkaus was
awarded the 2003 Ig
Nobel Prize in literature for meticulously
collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic reports about things that annoyed him, such as:
- What percentage of young people wear baseball caps with the peak facing to the rear rather than to the front;
- What percentage of pedestrians wear sport shoes that are white rather than some other color;
- What percentage of swimmers swim laps in the shallow end of a pool rather than the deep end;
- What percentage of automobile drivers almost, but not completely, come to a stop at one particular stop-sign;
- What percentage of commuters carry attaché cases;
- What percentage of shoppers exceed the number of items permitted in a supermarket’s express checkout lane; and
- What percentage of students dislike the taste of Brussels sprouts.
Professor
Trinkaus did the Santa Claus research some years after he received the Ig
Nobel Prize.
BONUS: This video, done
by another researcher, documents Santa Claus’s arrival in a shopping mall in
2009. Note the absence of children:
BONUS: In 2013, researcher M. Kelly discusses her theory of
the black-and-white nature of what kids now have to fear about Santa Claus: