Believing in Santa Claus does not make children behave better at Christmas.
Believing in Santa doesn't impact a child's behaviour at Christmas
Scientists investigated the behaviour of more than 500 kids over three Christmases to establish who was naughty or nice and concluded that the possibility of not getting presents from Santa has no impact on a child's conduct.
It was found that engaging in "costly" festive rituals - those that take more effort such as singing carols and putting up decorations - was a more effective way of getting youngsters to behave themselves.
Professor Rohan Kapitany, a psychologist at Durham University and lead author of the study, told MailOnline: "It seems that the more costly rituals likely have a bigger influence on (child) behaviour.
"Wearing a Christmas jumper is one thing but it's relatively easy to do, but going on an excursion in the dark and cold to listen to carols in a strange new building while holding candles is another thing entirely.
"The more unusual from every day life, the bigger the influence."