Psychology Christmas carols make you happy

Researchers explain Christmas: Sing along songs better

15/12/2014

During childhood, many could hardly wait for Christmas to finally come. In adulthood, however, people are often annoyed by rituals and music sprinkling. Researchers explain why it is better to sing Christmas carols, how important anticipation is and what other tangible effects Christmas can have on us.

Carols sing along loudly
Gingerbread and Schokonikoläuse are often found in the supermarkets in early autumn. At the beginning of December it usually starts with Christmas music. And these days, hardly anyone will leave the store, at least once „Last Christmas“ or „Do They Know It's Christmas“ Many are annoyed by the continuous sound of Christmas carols. This can be countered by singing along loudly. „In doing so, we put ourselves physically into a condition that is much more connected with positive than negative feelings and memories“, said the musicologist Gunter Kreutz of the University of Oldenburg, according to a message from the news agency dpa. „With a closed face and introspective attitude one can not sing at all.“ On the other hand, the brain understands an open facial expression and straight attitude as a positive feeling. „This, of course, comes with fellowship with other people“, so Kreutz. „This interplay of physical gestures, posture, breathing and synchronicity with fellow human beings often occurs in the case of feelings of happiness.“ It is also said that singing „from my heart“ get. „This is not just a metaphor. One may take that almost literally.“

Typical role distribution
Another point that catches the eye during Christmas is the typical role allocation in toy departments. On one side dolls with pink dresses and on the other miniature workbenches with plastic tools. The psychologist Bettina Hannover says that manufacturers nowadays place more on sex-typical toys than before. The expert considers this problematic and explained to the dpa: „The more children in their environment are confronted with sex-related play or study, the more likely they are that girls and boys are different, for example, playing with different things or wanting to learn different things.“ According to Hannover, children are very afraid of not conforming to the norms for their gender role. „Because they fear being laughed at by their peers and expelled.“ This will change later.

Teach children to postpone rewards
For many children, Christmas is the most important event of the year. „Anticipation is something really great, something important, from which children can learn a lot too“, so Hanover. Experts call this reward delay. The scientist Walter Mischel has proven that in an experiment that has since been faked many times. Some four-year-old children, while left alone in a room, had to resist a marshmallow for a few minutes to get two. As a survey of grown-up children revealed ten years later, those who had a good grip at the time did better, were better able to focus and work more effectively. „Children who have learned to postpone rewards are prepared for life in a variety of ways“, so Hanover. „And Christmas is something that parents can wonderfully stage to teach children this reward delay.“ An Advent calendar could be a good help.

Social conflicts and stress during Christmas
Peter Walschburger, emeritus professor of biopsychology at the Free University of Berlin, told the news agency why most people have a need for a harmonious Christmas: „The festival has established itself as a particularly pronounced community-building ritual. It changes our mundane everyday life to a sacred basic experience.“ The ritual character of the festival induces many people to obsess over everything. Since other such constraints do not want to comply, it is easy to social conflicts and stress during the holidays. In addition, psychotherapists have pointed out in the past that some people with social anxiety about the psychological pressure at Christmas also have physical symptoms, such as faster and deeper breathing, increased muscle tension, palpitations and high blood pressure. Often sufferers then even suffer a panic attack.

„Ways to relax the party“
„Unfortunately, more and more people experience Christmas as a disruption in their more and more rationalized everyday life“, so Walschburger. „They do not see how they can spend the time to meet the high expectations, be it their own or those of others.“ However, there are a number of ways to relax the party. „Above all, one should reduce one's own expectations to a realistic level and simply look forward to the good opportunity to see friends or family again.“ However, if anything gets too much during this time, relaxation techniques may also be helpful in reducing stress. These include yoga, autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation.

Pay attention to emotional values
With Christmas presents you should "pay more attention to emotional values, not financial". The two economists Thomas Bauer and Christoph Schmidt surveyed more than 500 students of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 2008 and came to the conclusion that most of the respondents would have spent less money on the gift if they had to buy it themselves. The bulk of the Christmas gifts were therefore worth less than they had actually cost. The sociologist Holger Schwaiger says: „It's about emotions, giving is a form of social communication.“ Therefore, he does not care about giving away money: „If I give someone 50 euros, my relationship with this person is set at the equivalent of 50 euros“. Schwaiger continues: „But what does it mean if our relationship is worth $ 50? Is that a lot or a little?“ Since people who "give away money often do not want the value of their gift to be immediately recognizable," they package the notes according to the sociologist „Artfully, fold flowers from them or put them in a card.“ (Ad)