I often wonder what effect the idea of Santa Claus has on children’s cognitive development. We have created a vast conspiracy to deceive young children, spanning every possible layer of authority: your parents are in on it, your teachers are in on it, mass media and corporations are in on it, even the government is in on it. All working together to support the idea that a man from the North Pole is going to fly around the world and bring you presents.
As a child gets older, maybe pieces of the story start to not make sense. The child expresses a little doubt, but is quickly reassured. The child may think, what’s more likely: that my doubts are misplaced, or that everyone in the world I’ve been taught to trust is wrong or lying to me?
Then finally the child’s ability to suspend reason is pushed to its breaking point. Yes, everyone else is really is wrong. My own comprehension of the world is a more reliable source of truth than what I’ve been instructed to believe. The child finally confronts their parents. “You’re right,” the child is told. “You’ve passed the test. You’re on the inside now. Don’t tell your little sister.”
The whole Santa Claus business is either a good idea or a bad idea. If it’s a good idea, it could be taken further and further until it starts being a bad idea to go any farther than that!
I have a slightly different perspective on this — I don’t know how common this is, but looking back on my feelings on Santa Claus as a young child, they had more to do with belief-in-belief than with an “actual” belief in an “actual” Santa. It was religious faith as I understand it; I wanted, vaguely, to be the sort of kid who believed in Santa Claus; I looked for evidence that Santa Claus was real, for theories of how he could be real even if magic wasn’t. So the lesson it taught me when I stopped believing in the whole thing was more of an insight about what it was like inside religious people’s heads.
Young kids don’t make a clear distinction between fantasy and reality. The process of coming to reject the Santa myth helps them clarify the distinction.
It’s interesting to me that young kids function as well as they do without the notions of true/false, real/pretend! What does “belief” even mean in that context? They change their beliefs from minute to minute to suit the situation.
Even for most adults, most beliefs are instrumental: We only separate true from false to the extent that it’s useful to do so!
The above strikes me as more true than false, but not true thanks to some combination of making its claim too strongly/too universally/via a kind of typical-mind channel.
If I had been trying to convey [my own version of this claim], I would have written something like:
The ability to make clear distinctions between fantasy and reality isn’t present in humans from birth. It’s absent in very young children, and doesn’t become possible until they’ve reached a certain age. The process of coming to reject the Santa myth is one of our culture’s tools for helping them make that distinction, though that comes with other downsides.
It’s interesting to me that very young kids function as well as they do without the notions of true/false, real/pretend, and that even some kids who are technically old enough to have made the shift still don’t bother to make the distinction. What does “belief” even mean in that context, for a person who changes their beliefs from minute to minute to suit the situation?
Even for most adults, it seems like most (or at least many) beliefs are instrumental. There are a lot of people who only separate true from false to the extent that it’s immediately/locally useful to do so.
… these hedges and caveats might feel like nitpicks, but they feel pretty important to me personally for not immediately losing track of what’s true! =P
You might like watching The Hog Father—a twisted (sort of) remake of the Santa story. The punchline (as I recall) was basically how can we expect anyone to believe the big lies (morality, justice, truths?) if the small ones are not learned.
I often wonder what effect the idea of Santa Claus has on children’s cognitive development. We have created a vast conspiracy to deceive young children, spanning every possible layer of authority: your parents are in on it, your teachers are in on it, mass media and corporations are in on it, even the government is in on it. All working together to support the idea that a man from the North Pole is going to fly around the world and bring you presents.
As a child gets older, maybe pieces of the story start to not make sense. The child expresses a little doubt, but is quickly reassured. The child may think, what’s more likely: that my doubts are misplaced, or that everyone in the world I’ve been taught to trust is wrong or lying to me?
Then finally the child’s ability to suspend reason is pushed to its breaking point. Yes, everyone else is really is wrong. My own comprehension of the world is a more reliable source of truth than what I’ve been instructed to believe. The child finally confronts their parents. “You’re right,” the child is told. “You’ve passed the test. You’re on the inside now. Don’t tell your little sister.”
The whole Santa Claus business is either a good idea or a bad idea. If it’s a good idea, it could be taken further and further until it starts being a bad idea to go any farther than that!
I have a slightly different perspective on this — I don’t know how common this is, but looking back on my feelings on Santa Claus as a young child, they had more to do with belief-in-belief than with an “actual” belief in an “actual” Santa. It was religious faith as I understand it; I wanted, vaguely, to be the sort of kid who believed in Santa Claus; I looked for evidence that Santa Claus was real, for theories of how he could be real even if magic wasn’t. So the lesson it taught me when I stopped believing in the whole thing was more of an insight about what it was like inside religious people’s heads.
Young kids don’t make a clear distinction between fantasy and reality. The process of coming to reject the Santa myth helps them clarify the distinction.
It’s interesting to me that young kids function as well as they do without the notions of true/false, real/pretend! What does “belief” even mean in that context? They change their beliefs from minute to minute to suit the situation.
Even for most adults, most beliefs are instrumental: We only separate true from false to the extent that it’s useful to do so!
The above strikes me as more true than false, but not true thanks to some combination of making its claim too strongly/too universally/via a kind of typical-mind channel.
If I had been trying to convey [my own version of this claim], I would have written something like:
… these hedges and caveats might feel like nitpicks, but they feel pretty important to me personally for not immediately losing track of what’s true! =P
You might like watching The Hog Father—a twisted (sort of) remake of the Santa story. The punchline (as I recall) was basically how can we expect anyone to believe the big lies (morality, justice, truths?) if the small ones are not learned.