Children who are popular are less likely to be generous with their friends when it comes to Christmas gifts, research has found.

Economics professor at Exeter University, Dr Jingnan Cecilia Chen, looked at whether gift giving among children was influenced by whether they knew it would be done in private or out in the open.

She found that less popular children tended to be more generous with their gifts regardless of whether or not they knew others would find out what they had given. 

While the less popular children chose to give the same amount to each of their friends, this was not the case with popular children. 

The study found that the popular kids were less generous when the gifts were exchanged in private and they knew their classmates would not be told what had been given. 

For the study, Dr Chen examined the behaviour of children aged 6 to 12 who were asked what they would choose to give to their friends as Christmas gifts. 

They were also told whether these choices would be revealed to their classmates. 

'We found that for less popular children it didn't matter whether or not others would learn what they'd chosen to give; they chose to give the same amount in both instances. They also tended to be more generous overall than their more popular friends,' she said.

'The decision making was different among more popular children – they were generally more generous when they knew their friends would be told what they'd chosen to give.'

Dr Chen also found that age was a factor in how generous children were towards their friends at Christmas. 

'We also found that older children tended to be more generous towards their friends than younger ones,' she added.

'Again, this was particularly true if they knew their friends were going to find out what they were giving.'

Dr Chen believes that the findings could also be beneficial for adults in team and business settings.

'The research suggests that adopting transparent, open decision making within teams and organisations can be really beneficial,' she said.

'This is because its openness can encourage the generosity of some members of the team - perhaps especially the most popular leaders - without detrimentally impacting on how the others behave.'