The Psychology of Christmas

By Dr Paul Mulcahy (December 2023)

Ask an Irish person what their favourite Christmas song is, and you have a pretty good chance that it's the one the features the above lyric. Rather than being indicative of a national distaste for the holiday, I think the popularity of the song as a whole indicates an appreciation of the joyful mix of sentimentality and cynicism that goes with a modern conception of Christmas. We know that Christmas can be tacky and consumerist and overindulgent, but we genuinely love and celebrate it too. It’s this complexity and seeming contradiction that also makes Christmas interesting from a psychological perspective. In this blog post I’ll take a look at some psychology research either specifically about Christmas or with special relevance to Christmas, to see what it can teach us about the most wonderful time of year.

The Psychology of Christmas Spirit

Psychologists interested in studying personality traits tend to avoid defining people according to strict categories. Instead of classifying people as either an introvert or an extrovert, for example, the approach suggests that it’s more accurate to say that most people are somewhere between the ends of the spectrum for introversion/extroversion. To determine roughly where on that spectrum an individual is located, psychology researchers or practitioners often use psychometrics. This is where a person responds to a series of questions or statements, and a psychologist uses these responses as a basis for a numerical score which indicates that individual’s place along the continuum for a given personality trait or other psychological description. The questions themselves are carefully developed, and statistical techniques are used to check them for accuracy and reliability.

One researcher has taken this approach and applied it to the behavioural trait of “Christmas spirit”, with a questionnaire which purports to measure various aspects of how much you enjoy Christmas and follow its traditions and rituals (Clarke, 2007). Respondents are presented with statements such as “I love to Christmas shop” and they rate their agreement on a scale from 1-5. Then their answers are totted up and they get an overall score for Christmas spirit. This sounds like a fun test to take, but I’d be wary of assigning it too much validity. The concept of Christmas spirit itself is quite vague to be quantified in this manner, and it seems likely that the kind of person who exhibits Christmas spirit could just as easily be described by other similar dispositions and behaviours all year round. It’s also difficult to imagine many legitimate use-cases for a questionnaire like this in research (admittedly, the original source was a journal oriented towards the psychology of advertising and marketing). Perhaps unsurprisingly then, it’s not a widely-cited measure so we can file it under: “there’s a psychology questionnaire for everything”.

Another study went a step further than surveys, by using fMRI brain imaging to localise the “Christmas spirit” parts of the brain (Hougaard et al., 2015). Participants were put in an MRI scanner and the researchers looked at what parts of the brain changed their activity in response to pictures of Christmas-related objects and scenes. The researchers identified a number of brain areas that increased their level of energy use which indicates greater activity (the areas “lit up”, to use the fancy neuroscience term) and stated that lo and behold, they had discovered the Christmas spirit brain network!

Okay, if this one sounds like a bit of joke that’s because it is. It’s a real published paper, but it’s actually some tongue-in-cheek seasonal fun that the journal engages in each year (for instance, this year’s article is about the relationship between Doctor Who Christmas specials and UK mortality rates). There’s also a little bit of a tradition of parody publications in brain imaging research, which began a few years ago when researchers started to notice that there was a suspicious number of actual studies being reported in brain imaging research with very headline-grabbing findings and large observed effects - which as any Psychology researcher will tell you, is rare at the best of times (Vul et al., 2009). Alarm bells started going off among the more skeptically- minded, who dug a bit further. They discovered that for some of these papers, once you looked past the cool pictures of the brain with coloured blobs indicating activity in certain parts, there were methodological and statistical issues. Around this time, a group of researchers demonstrated that using some of these methods and analyses indicated a localized region of brain activation in a dead salmon (Bennett et al., 2009). The Christmas spirit paper adopts the similarly dodgy methods and stats of the “dead salmon study” but the authors humourously wave away any issues because they are not “in the spirit of the holiday” (p. 3). And I really love this next part. Published papers will often have a section that outlines any potential conflicts of interest by researchers. The authors take this opportunity to assert the following:

We are currently preparing a patent application on a Santa’s hat that you can buy for family members with symptoms [of Bah Humbug Syndrome]. When they start grumbling at Christmas dinner, with the touch of a button you can give them electric stimulation right in the Christmas-spirit centres (Hoagaard et al., 2015; p. 3)

The Psychology of Gifts and Giving

Part of the expression of Christmas spirit is of course giving to others, and there are a number of (real) psychology studies which have explored the topic of gifts and giving, which might even be helpful if you’re considering some last-minute gift shopping. A 2009 study found an asymmetry between gift-givers and gift-receivers in how much they associate monetary cost with gift appreciation (Flynn & Adams, 2009). Participants were recruited online and split into two groups; one group was asked to remember a recent gift they gave, how much they paid for it, and how much they thought it was appreciated. The other group was asked to think of a gift they received, how much they thought it cost, and how much they appreciated it. For gift givers there was a positive statistical relationship (correlation) between price and anticipated appreciation by the recipients. In other words, they more they spent the more they expected the gift to be liked. However, for gift recipients there was no such relationship – actual feelings of appreciation were just as likely to be high for what they estimated to be cheaper or more expensive items. Other research confirms this; one study found that gift buyers tended to assume that items they buy on sale will be appreciated less, but again recipients had no such qualms about bargain gifts and rated liking them just as much (Park & Yi, 2022).

There is the possibility of what psychologists refer to as “social desirability bias” at play in studies such as these. Specifically, research participants might not want to seem too hung up on money because there’s a negative social stereotype surrounding this type of attitude, so might have adjusted their responses accordingly. The fact that responses were given anonymously does give reason not to dismiss the findings, however. Overall, the research suggests that the best gifts are ones that convey thoughtfulness rather than monetary value (Burgoyne & Routh, 1991). In a sense, it’s the expression of care that makes for the best gift.

The Psychology of Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All

For some people Christmas can be a lonely or emotionally fraught time, especially if the preceding year or a previous Christmas has brought a bereavement. Contrary to popular myth however, the existing evidence doesn’t support the idea of a widespread negative emotional outlook linked to the festive season. Páez et al. (2011) surveyed 141 students immediately before and after Christmas and found that stress and conflict specifically related to Christmas tended to be low, and positive mood was overall high. For people who might be more psychologically “at risk”, a 2004 overview of relevant studies suggested that suicide and attempted suicide actually both decrease in December, and especially in the days leading up to Christmas (Carley & Hamilton, 2004). It should be noted however that studies like these tend to detect a “rebound effect” where such incidents increase in January, suggesting that the decrease around Christmas might be due to the presence and support of family members during the holidays. Such an interpretation aligns with a large body of research which suggests that social support is an effective contributor to wellbeing (Uchino, 2006).

Since we’re in the giving mood, we could ask ourselves how best to be a good source of social support over the Christmas (and beyond). It might seem intuitive that more tangible or practical forms of support are the most effective, and of course nobody is going to refuse your help in cooking Christmas dinner or cleaning up afterwards. However, this type of practical social support, referred to as “instrumental support” can be tricky too. Studies indicate that receipt of instrumental support can sometimes negatively impact on the recipient’s feelings of self-esteem and self-efficacy, which refers to their evaluation that they are capable of achieving beneficial outcomes by their own skills and abilities. To get the balance right, evidence suggests that the most effective instrumental support is that which is most obvious to the provider but not to the recipient (Bolger, et al., 2000). If you are helping with the dinner, maybe don’t make a big deal out of it!

Another type of support is also potentially valuable, especially to those mentioned earlier who are having a tougher time during Christmas. This form of support, which is referred to as “emotional support” is just what the name suggests; basically providing a shoulder to cry on. Actually, research suggests that even simply letting someone know that you’re there for them if they need it can be hugely beneficial as a buffer against stress and negative emotional wellbeing.

Much of the existing psychology research on social support has focused on the recipient, but there’s growing evidence to suggest that voluntarily providing emotional support is also shown to have benefits to the provider’s wellbeing (Morelli et al., 2015), so it’s potentially a win-win! There’s still a lot to be worked out about the balance between giving and receiving support. In fact, an MIC study due to begin looking for volunteers in early 2024 will be advancing knowledge on this important topic. Along with my colleague Dr Niamh Higgins, I will be investigating the bidirectionality of support and its relationship with cardiovascular stress reactivity. Basically, we’ll be looking at how perceptions of giving and receiving support might affect people’s heart responses when they’re stressed. If you’re interested in participating, watch this space for more details.

In the meantime, the existing research suggests that checking in on a loved one just to let them know that you’re there for them could be a literally priceless gift. Instead of the beloved "Happy Christmas your arse", maybe it's more relevant to focus on another lyric which expresses the importance of the social dimension; "...can't make it all alone". And rather than the consumerism that often characterizes the silly season, this is surely the best encapsulation of the spirit of Christmas.

References

Bennett, B. Miller, & Wolford.(2011). Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic salmon: An argument for proper multiple comparisons correction. Journal of Serendipitous and Unexpected Results, 1(1), 1-5.

Bolger, N., Zuckerman, A., & Kessler, R. C. (2000). Invisible support and adjustment to stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 953-961.

Burgoyne, C. B., & Routh, D. A. (1991). Constraints on the use of money as a gift at Christmas: The role of status and intimacy. Journal of Economic Psychology, 12(1), 47-69.

Carley, S., & Hamilton, M. (2004). Suicide at Christmas. Emergency Medicine Journal, 21(6), 716-717.

Clarke, P. (2007). A measure for Christmas spirit. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(1), 8-17.

Flynn, F. J., & Adams, G. S. (2009). Money can’t buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about gift price and feelings of appreciation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(2), 404-409.

Morelli, S. A., Lee, I. A., Arnn, M. E., & Zaki, J. (2015). Emotional and instrumental support provision interact to predict well-being. Emotion, 15(4), 484-493.

Páez, D., Bilbao, M. Á., Bobowik, M., Campos, M., & Basabe, N. (2011). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The impact of Christmas rituals on subjective well-being and family's emotional climate. Revista de Psicología Social, 26(3), 373-386.

Park, Y., & Yi, Y. (2022). Is a gift on sale “heart-discounted”? Givers’ misprediction on the value of discounted gifts and the influence of service robots. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 65, 102489.

Uchino, B. N. (2006). Social support and health: a review of physiological processes potentially underlying links to disease outcomes. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 29, 377-387.

Vul, E., Harris, C., Winkielman, P., and Pashler, H. (2009). Puzzlingly high correlations in fMRI studies of emotion, personality, and social cognition. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(3), 274–290.