What Professor Trinkaus saw surprised and saddened him. More than 95 percent of the children were visibly indifferent or hesitant as they approached Santa. Only one percent of them smiled or showed other signs of happiness. On the other hand, Professor Trinkaus noted, nearly all of the parents were visibly quite happy and excited.
That was true two years ago when we reported on Professor Trinkaus’s study (“Visiting Santa: An Informal Look,” Psychological Reports, vol. 95, no. 2, October 2004, pp. 587-8.) of the people (both kids AND adults) who visit Santa a shopping malls.
That was not the end of the story. Professor Trinkaus continued his research, and has published a new study (“Visiting Santa: Another Look,” Psychological Reports, vol. 96, no. 3, part 2, June 2005, pp. 1022-4.) This confirmed what he had seen during the first study.
[NOTE: Professor Trinkaus, who is perhaps surprisingly cheerful about his findings, was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Literature Prize for meticulously collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic reports about things that annoyed him.]