In the era of fake newsalternative truths and multiple conspiracy theories, it can be interesting to focus on the psychological mechanisms that lead children to believe in this fantastic character and even more to understand what pushes them, when they reach a certain age, to abandon this belief in order to accept living in a somewhat disenchanted reality.
It is also this exercise that the sociologist Gérald Bronner undertook as part of research that he directed in 2000 based on 142 interviews divided into two age groups, i.e. 71 participants aged 10 to 12 years old and 71 others aged 25 to 30 years old. In the article which followed and which has the title “Contribution to a theory of the abandonment of beliefs. The End of Santa Claus”, the author explains that his research pursued two objectives: to understand how the participants perceived this myth today, but above all “to obtain stories explaining how, why, they had come to no longer believe in Father Christmas “.
Although some participants were unable to remember why they had come to reject this belief, 81.6% remembered it perfectly; and this is where things get interesting.
As Gérald Bronner explains, in order to become credible, a myth needs to be surrounded by a nebula of opinions, attitudes, social representations and secondary beliefs which support and consolidate it. Thus, if the child adheres to the myth of Santa Claus, it is largely thanks to the speeches, allusions, little lies and promises coming from adults, but also thanks to a set of “proofs” and various facts of which he is the witness: the letters he sends to Santa Claus, his wishes fulfilled on the evening of the 24th, the cookies and the glass of milk consumed, the reindeer and the sleigh flying in the sky, the elves at the North Pole, without forgetting the set of physical and psychological attributes making up the benevolent figure of Santa Claus himself.
Disenchantment
But one day, gradually reaching what we call the age of reason and becoming aware of a certain number of inconsistencies, the child will begin to doubt, not the existence of Santa Claus, but rather a certain number of elements which make up the magical universe in which the latter evolves. What was the gift I asked for in my parents’ closet on Christmas Eve? Why do the adults start laughing when I tell them about the red-nosed reindeer? How can Santa Claus move through the sky with his sleigh, be everywhere at once on the night of December 24 and manage to go through the chimney to leave the presents under the tree?
All these questions are enough to shake the faith of a believer! However, a bit like Pascal’s bet regarding the existence of God, the child also has everything to gain from betting on the existence of Santa Claus and clinging to this tale. wonderful who only promises him beautiful things. Faced with his doubts, his first reflex will therefore be to rationalize, to plug the flaws or to adapt his belief system.
But when cognitive dissonance becomes too strong, when doubt comes to contaminate too many peripheral elements that make up his myth, one day the child has no other choice but to question what constitutes its very heart. , only to come to the ultimate conclusion that Santa Claus does not exist.
Rite of passage
This awareness will be experienced by many children as a painful and sometimes traumatic experience. They who had naively trusted the world of adults will tell themselves that it is no longer possible to trust entirely in their fine speeches.
But after this disillusionment, the child will understand that he has just taken an important step which can be seen as a sort of rite of passage which opens the doors to the adult world. As he is now the keeper of a secret to which those younger than him do not have access – namely that Santa Claus does not exist – a complicity and a feeling of belonging will be established between him and the adults. The child will then grow up.
Obviously, the myth of Santa Claus is only one example that Gérald Bronner uses to better understand the cognitive processes that can occur when abandoning a belief deeply anchored in human beings. In fact, what motivates the sociologist above all in this exercise is to see to what extent the analytical grid that he proposes could help us to better understand what is at stake in the heads of the followers of the theories conspiracy or religious fanatics, for example, in the hope of finding an approach that would deradicalize the bearers of such discourse. Moreover, Gérald Bronner will push his reflection further on these themes in essays like The democracy of the gullible, Lapse of rationality And Cognitive Apocalypse.
To conclude on a lighter tone, let us say that, when we focus on listing the similarities that exist between the belief in Santa Claus and that in God the Father — and in his son — we come to think that it is undoubtedly no coincidence that these characters, who all promise us great things, are celebrated on December 25 with such joy and fervor…