%0 Journal Article %1 Huang2014Surprising %A Huang, B. Emma %A Clifford, David %A Lê Cao, Kim-Anh %D 2014 %J The Medical Journal of Australia %K social christmas silly psychology %N 11 %P 694--696 %R 10.5694/mja14.01392 %T The surprising benefit of passive–aggressive behaviour at Christmas parties: being crowned king of the crackers %U http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja14.01392 %V 201 %X Objective: To test the effects of technique and attitude in pulling Christmas crackers. Design, setting and participants: A binomial trial conducted at a Christmas-in-July dinner party involving five anonymous dinner guests, including two of the authors. Main outcome measure: Number of wins achieved by different strategies, with a win defined as securing the larger portion of the cracker. Results: The previously ” guaranteed” strategy for victory, employing a downwards angle towards the puller, failed to differentiate itself from random chance (win rate, 6/15; probability of winning, 0.40; 95\% CI, 0.15–0.65). A novel passive–aggressive strategy, in which one individual just holds on without pulling, provided a significant advantage (win rate, 11/12; probability of winning, 0.92; 95\% CI, 0.76–1.00). Conclusion: The passive–aggressive strategy of failing to pull has a high rate of success at winning Christmas crackers; however, excessive adoption of this approach will result in a complete failure, with no winners at all.

@article{Huang2014Surprising, abstract = {Objective: To test the effects of technique and attitude in pulling Christmas crackers. Design, setting and participants: A binomial trial conducted at a Christmas-in-July dinner party involving five anonymous dinner guests, including two of the authors. Main outcome measure: Number of wins achieved by different strategies, with a win defined as securing the larger portion of the cracker. Results: The previously ” guaranteed” strategy for victory, employing a downwards angle towards the puller, failed to differentiate itself from random chance (win rate, 6/15; probability of winning, 0.40; 95\% CI, 0.15–0.65). A novel passive–aggressive strategy, in which one individual just holds on without pulling, provided a significant advantage (win rate, 11/12; probability of winning, 0.92; 95\% CI, 0.76–1.00). Conclusion: The passive–aggressive strategy of failing to pull has a high rate of success at winning Christmas crackers; however, excessive adoption of this approach will result in a complete failure, with no winners at all.}, added-at = {2018-06-18T21:23:34.000+0200}, author = {Huang, B. Emma and Clifford, David and L\^{e} Cao, Kim-Anh}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/262a2ec4cc8a8547e7f6f03cddfbf3d0a/pbett}, citeulike-article-id = {13894992}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja14.01392}, day = 15, doi = {10.5694/mja14.01392}, interhash = {066023f81b819ffcabed3d8555c3b33a}, intrahash = {62a2ec4cc8a8547e7f6f03cddfbf3d0a}, issn = {0025729X}, journal = {The Medical Journal of Australia}, keywords = {social christmas silly psychology}, month = dec, number = 11, pages = {694--696}, posted-at = {2015-12-28 17:29:52}, priority = {2}, timestamp = {2018-06-22T18:36:02.000+0200}, title = {The surprising benefit of passive–aggressive behaviour at Christmas parties: being crowned king of the crackers}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja14.01392}, volume = 201, year = 2014 }