Does a Perceived Fear Create Good Behaviour? A Merry Krampus Story…
By Megan Jane, Featured Writer.
Seeing as the holidays are very near, I’d thought I’d share a little festive cheer with further exploring the wonderful story of Krampus, the perceived necessity to fear such a character and the possible behavioural changes that occur when such belief in a character exists.
Who is Krampus?
Krampus is half-man, half-goat and is what can be termed as the darker counterpart to St. Nicholas. Whereas St. Nic would reward good behaviour with presents, Krampus chased naughty children, would bundle them up, drag them to hell, or eat them. Krampus was associated with pagan festivities and for many, many years the stories of Krampus were told to frighten children and to ensure their good behaviour. Krampus originates from Austrian folklore and research has shown that the 'Benandanti', a secretive cult that was accused of witchcraft during the 17th century, were contributors towards the myth that is Krampus (Ridenoir, 2016).
What is Fear?
As is always the case in Psychology there is no simple question – and never is there a simple answer!! Fear is a natural and primitive emotion that is a response to a perceived threatening or dangerous stimuli and/or situation. The generic responses to fear are fight, flight, or freeze - and the response actioned usually reflects on the likelihood of survival. Neurological responses to fear occur via the amygdala which fires signals (neurotransmitters) to several other areas in the brain within the central and peripheral nervous system. Physical responses to fear are increased heart rate, faster breathing, palpitations and hyper attentiveness (Preece, 2012).
The James-Lange theory of emotion states that emotion is felt as a response to physiological arousal, whereas Schachter and Singers Two-Factor model states that physiological arousal and cognition are combined to create an emotion. How is this relevant I hear you ask? Well, if we relate both theories to fear and Krampus, then the James-Lange theory suggests that seeing Krampus would arouse fear - whereas Schachter and Singers Two-Factor model would suggest that how the individual initially interpreted Krampus would determine the physiological and emotional response. And given that Krampus was a character developed to provoke fear, I think it’s safe to assume that fear would then be the subsequent emotion - regardless of theory!
Krampus - a harmless festive character?
So let’s piece together what we know so far - first Krampus is a character that would gobble you up if you misbehaved - and second, using either/both emotion theories mentioned above - it is safe to say that, to a child, Krampus equals fear.
I know for a fact that as a child I would have been petrified of Krampus. That my resulting behaviour would be not to ensure that I received presents from St. Nicholas, but more to avoid having to meet Krampus. Possibly to the extent of anxiety-provoking avoidance of bad behaviour and bad thoughts. December could have then become a time of panic for me, to try and right all of my perceived wrongs and ensure that Krampus was to stay away!! This thought did make me smile, but also then made me think about belief and how the fear of 'bad' can sometimes outweigh the need to do something 'good'. After all, isn't childhood about pushing boundaries and learning 'right' from 'wrong'? Therefore, does the perceived existence of a Krampus figure create fear of punishment rather than enforcing the practice of good behaviour? I had a religious upbringing and went to a Catholic school, and for me, this is certainly true. I would hold fear of punishment over the need to want to do good and behave well. Johnson and Kruger (2004) in their research talk of a fear of ‘supernatural punishment’, that for many religion ‘constitutes powerful norms of behaviour’. They go on to discuss how an underlying theme throughout several religions is the fear of punishment if such norms of behaviour are not conformed and co-operation does not occur.
Putting religion aside, Behaviourist perspectives stemmed from the theory of classical conditioning (how objects or events can trigger a response), place emphasis on explaining observable behaviour via previous experiences, which could therefore suggest that a Krampus figure ‘clearly meets a pragmatic need’ to ensure that children practised good manners (Hogg & Vaughan, 2014, & Ridenoir, 2016). However, Godsi (2004) states that the threat of punishment can be just as powerful as the action happening. The threat of controlled use of money or material gifts towards a child as a form of manipulation, and in some extreme cases as a form of emotional abuse, suggests that withdrawing a reward as an act of punishment can be seen as cruel and coercive, especially in an increasingly materialistic world. Such a threat to negatively reinforce ‘bad’ behaviour could induce a longstanding and rigid belief system within the child similar to conditional love that involves denial of emotion from the caregiver when the child does not act exactly how the caregiver wants (Hogg & Vaughan, 2014, Godsi,2004).
So….to conclude?
I'm not going to lie - I didn't think things would get so heavy! But I have found it interesting how something as 'innocent' as a character designed to stop children misbehaving could have such long-term implications on the child. Let’s remember it is the ho-ho-holiday season and I think it’s safe to assume that Krampus is a story to try and get children to behave - very much like the ‘naughty and nice’ list - and I like to think that caregivers wouldn’t actually let their children be without gifts! The threat of Krampus would have certainly made me choose not to do bad as a child, but it may not have necessarily made me do good either, Krampus would, however, have made me mindful of bad behaviour.
References:
Godsi, E. (2004). Violence and society; Making sense of madness and badness. PCCS books:UK
Hogg, M.A., & Vaughan, G.M. (2014). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Pearson:UK.
Johnson, D., & Krüger, O. (2004). The good of wrath: Supernatural punishment and the evolution of cooperation. Political theology, 5(2), 159-176.
Preece, E. (2012). Biological Psychology. Pearson:England.
Ridenour, A. (2016). The Krampus and the old, dark Christmas: roots and rebirth of the folkloric devil. Feral House.