THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 31

What insights about human nature were revealed by a study of Halloween trick-or-treaters?

Subject:  Human Nature/Deindividuation - Candy Study

Event:  Halloween

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Most social science experiments are conducted in university laboratories, but one classic study from the 1970s was conducted in a suburban neighborhood.

The purpose of the study was to gain some insight into human nature, specifically the honesty of trick-or-treaters as they collected candy on Halloween night.

Each time a child came to the door, a research assistant greeted them, pointed out a candy bowl sitting on a table, and instructed the child to help themselves to a single piece of candy.   The researcher then told the child that she had a chore to complete and left the room.  Unbeknownst to the trick-or-treaters, another researcher was watching through a small peephole and recording which children followed directions and which children let greed overtake them.  The results from eighteen different households on Halloween night revealed that 33.7% of children took more than a single piece of candy.

                                                      Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

The researchers then added one new wrinkle to the experiment:  a mirror.  The mirror was strategically placed next to the candy bowl so that any child approaching the bowl would see his or her reflection.  With the mirror present, candy theft was reduced to only 8.8 percent (1).

In another variation of the study, research assistants asked half the children their names before telling the kids to take one candy and then leaving them alone in the room.  The other half of the kids were not asked their names.  As you might guess, the kids who remained anonymous took more candy than those who volunteered their names.

One conclusion we might make from these studies is that if we want to influence people’s behavior, we should make them identifiable, helping them to both literally and figuratively reflect on what they are doing (2). This approach reduces deindividuation -- the psychological state in which a person acts differently than they normally would either because they are part of a group or because they are anonymous.

A psychological state in which a person acts differently than they normally would either because they are a part of a group or because they are anonymous.

For another Halloween social science study involving trick-or-treaters, see Thinker’s Almanac - April 24

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  With one small addition to this experiment, researchers were able to reduce candy theft to just 8.9%.  What did they do?

Challenge - Who Are You: Halloween is a great day to reflect on who we truly are.  Whether or not we literally put on a mask, we are always dealing with issues of identity.  Do some research on quotations about “identity.”  When you find one that gives you true insight, write it down and explain why it is meaningful to you.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

October 31, 1517:  Today is Halloween, but the most famous individual to approach a door on this date was not dressed in a costume.  The year was 1517, and the man approaching the door was a 34-year-old Augustinian monk named Martin Luther.  The door he approached was not a residence; rather, it was a church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  Instead of knocking on the door, Luther nailed a list of 95 theses to the church door.   It was this single act by one man that sparked a religious revolution called the Protestant Reformation.  In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the dominant church in Europe.  Since Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire in 325 AD, the church had grown in both political and spiritual power.  In 1513 Leo X became Pope and began plans to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, the headquarters of the Catholic Church.  To raise funds for this major project, the decision was made to sell indulgences, the church’s promise that an individual could escape God’s judgment in the afterlife in exchange for money in this one. It was the act of selling indulgences as well as other corruption in the church, that sparked Martin Luther’s act of nailing his 95 theses.  As a monk lecturing at the University of Wittenberg in Germany, Luther believed that forgiveness of sins could only come from God and that unchecked power had caused the church to lose sight of its biblical foundation. Luther’s 95 theses, written in Latin, challenged the authority of the Pope, calling for an end to indulgences, corruption, and decadence -- and a return to a proper spiritual focus.  For his act, Luther was charged with heresy and was excommunicated from the church.  Luther’s cause did not die, however.  Aided by the printing press, which had been invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1439, copies of Luther’s theses were circulated throughout Europe.  The “protest” movement that resulted became the Protestant Reformation, which spawned numerous Christian sects that rejected the authority of the Roman Church (3).

Sources:

1-Goldstein, Noah J., Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini.  Yes:  50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. New York:  Free Press, 2008.

2-Waxman, Olivia B. “What Trick-or-Treating Teaches Us About Human Nature.” Time magazine 28 Oct. 2015.

3-Marsh, W.B. and Bruce Carrick.  365:  Your Date with History.  Cambridge, UK:  Totem Books, 2004.