WEBVTT - From the Vault: The Halloween Costume Made Me Do It 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.600 Hey, you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:10.680 name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And it's Saturday. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.600 Time to venture into the vault. This time we're gonna 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.560 be going back to an old classic October episode that 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.920 you did with Christian a few years ago. Right, that's right. 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.240 This is the Halloween costume made me do it? Uh, 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.760 this is the This is basically a study of what 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.440 happens when we put on Halloween mask. How into what 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.479 extent does it change who we are and how we behave. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.280 Is a child wearing a Halloween mask more likely to 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.960 get into mischief than one that is not wearing a mask? Uh? 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.320 It's a fascinating area of discussion. Gets into stuff like 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.720 in clothes, cognition, etcetera. This was originally published on October. 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:52.720 We hope you enjoy it today. Welcome to Stuff to 0:00:52.800 --> 0:01:01.920 Blow your Mind from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:03.560 welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.240 Robert Lamb and I'm Christian Seger. Hey, it is October, 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.759 and we, if you haven't noticed, are covering a lot 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.639 of topics that are around kind of the October theme 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.919 of horror and Halloween but also things like being dead 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.080 or burials are for today, we're gonna get real literal 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.039 with it and talk about Halloween costumes. But we also 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:24.760 want to let you know that towards the end of 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.960 the month, we're going to be doing two kind of 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.160 special things that we want our audience to know about. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.000 The first is that we're gonna be periscoping our listener 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.520 mail starting on October twenty three, which is a Friday. 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.360 So if you're on periscope or if you're not, sign 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.480 up for it and you can check us out responding 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:42.400 to our listener mail and kind of interacting with our 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.640 audience in real time on that platform. Yeah, and if 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:47.760 you don't know what periscope is, don't worry. I didn't 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:49.520 know till life a few weeks ago. So we'll put 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.760 up a blog post as well at some point here 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.800 that will give you the deats on what exactly what 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.920 we're talking about exactly. We'll be pushing the information out 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.200 on our social media channels as well, which include Facebook, Twitter, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.760 and tumbler. On all of those platforms were known by 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.280 the handle blow the Mind, and we don't just post 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.880 our own stuff there. We curate content from all the 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.320 kind of weird science e stuff that we find across 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.080 the internet. Uh. And if you want to be included 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.680 in that listener mail, don't forget that. You can always 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.280 reach us at the email address blow the Mind at 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.400 how stuff Works dot com. The other thing that we 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.640 have coming up at the end of October is the 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.639 return of our video series Monster Science. Robert, you want 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.720 to tell him a little bit about this? Yeah? Join 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.079 uh Dr Anton Jessup, a kind of a daytime horror 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.360 host VHS era basement creep who's going to walk us 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:41.800 through the real world science behind us some rather outrageous 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.040 monster movie nasties. Can you give us a preview of 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.000 what kind of monsters we're gonna see in this? So yes, 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.800 we're gonna you're gonna look at shambling mushrooms, You're gonna 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.480 look at werewolves. We're gonna look into Big Trouble a 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:56.760 little China when the creatures from that as well. That's exciting, 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.919 as well as a certain character from Mortal Kombat. So cool. Cool. 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.640 So what's great about that is you've got a wear 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:05.960 Wolf episode coming up with that. We just published the 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.239 episode on wolf Spain and so you know, we're trying 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:10.880 to tie things together a little bit here. We also 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.840 have an episode coming out about Egyptian mummification, and we 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.360 have a mummy episode of Monster Science from the first season. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.320 So October, you can see, is our favorite month, which 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.320 brings me to today's episode, Robert, what are you going 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.840 to be for Halloween this year? We'll see this is 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.200 a this is a complicated question, um with me, because 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.079 I have the boy. The boy's gonna dress up and 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.320 uh and and me and my wife have done kind 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.960 of like combo costumes in the past, but now we 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.360 have this, uh, this weird extra actor in the scenario. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:44.920 So like last year we did a Twin Peaks thing 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:50.040 where remember that, Yeah, where I was the comic clock 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.880 and character lady. Yeah, my wife was a clog lady 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.720 and we dressed our son up as the dancing little guy. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.040 Um and and my my father in law played the 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.720 tall man. Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember seeing that picture. Yeah, 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.720 that was a great idea. Yeah, so that one works. 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.000 But now he's he's a little more insistent, like he 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.160 wants to be a giraffe and like, you know how 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.200 it's hard to work a giraffe into a team cost 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.880 him ef. Yeah, absolutely, the only thing that comes to 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.640 mind is like, what's that elephant children's story? Bob are 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:24.800 Ye and like that. I don't want to dress up 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.840 like ar Yeah you're not. You don't strick me as 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:28.640 the book? Yeah I would. I would love to do 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.719 a mummy like com bo cost him where we all 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.560 dressed up as different takes on mummies. He could be 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.640 a giraffe mummy, he could. Yeah, there's no reason why 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.280 they wouldn't have mummified a giraffe. That would have been 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.479 an interesting process in bombing all those draft organs. Yeah, 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:44.760 I would think so. So yeah, maybe mommy giraffe. We'll see. 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.440 How about yourself. I haven't nailed it down yet, but 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.800 I have this old prison outfit that I used for 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.240 a video I shot one time. So I'm kind of 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.800 considering doing a Hannibal lecter thing. Uh, but it would 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:58.320 involve me having to be strapped down to a dolly 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:00.560 and being pushed around by somebody. And I don't think 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.120 I can talk anybody into being you know, the orderly 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.240 Barney from the from the Asylum that Animals. And that's 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:11.080 the thing about it's about certain combo costumes is they're 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.280 not all even handed. Sometimes they require somebody to be 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.280 something kind of boring. Yeah, well some people are into that. 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.080 I don't think My wife definitely wouldn't want to be Barney, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.000 so we'll come up with something maybe she can be 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.840 Will Graham. Yeah. So the reason I ask is because 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.560 today we're gonna be talking about Halloween costumes and how 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.800 they relate to our culture but also to our identities 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.000 and how we form and change our our identities in 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.480 conjunction with what we're you know, costuming as Yeah, it hard, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.560 it's a really it's a really fascinating topic because when 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.520 you put on a mask, when you put on a costume, 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.240 you're engaging in a in a very a very powerful act. 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:54.080 Here you are becoming somebody else, not only externally but internally, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.200 as we'll discuss, and it's been a it's played a 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:01.800 vital role in traditional religions throughout history. It's uh, you 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.520 can you can see both positive and negative, very negative 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:08.480 aspects of mask and costume usage throughout time, and yet 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.440 today we often just relegate it to just sort of 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.919 childhood silliness. Right, Oh, the kids are gonna put on 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:18.000 masks and go around parading through the community. Well when 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.160 but if you stop and you think about it, it's 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.719 it's terrifying, you know. Yeah, And I think that there's 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.479 an argument to be made to that, and we're going 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.400 to get into this that it's definitely over the last 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.920 thirty years or so, maybe forty years or so, it's 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.200 started to become an adult thing, at least in American culture, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:38.360 and that the rise of cosplay in sort of, I guess, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.520 nerd culture, but you know, I think it's gotten to 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.599 the point where cosplay is is beyond nerd culture now. 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:46.359 I was in the grocery store the other day and 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.880 there's a magazine dedicated to cosplay that you can buy 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.039 at your local supermarket. So I feel like that's sort 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.760 of elevated past, you know, just just for geeks, when 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.840 you can buy it like on the shelf there. Yeah, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.400 and it's great to hear that, especially looking back. I 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.880 definitely remember a time when I was still trigger treating, 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.760 but among my peers, I was probably too old for 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.960 such nonsense. And occasionally you would run, you would trigg 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:12.640 or treat at a house and you'd see somebody your 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:14.520 own age in there, not in costume, and they kind 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.520 of look at you like, what are you doing? But 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.920 then you know what they weren't doing having fun exactly. Yeah. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.920 In fact, the dude in question I'm thinking about, it's 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:25.640 like I looked him up on Facebook and he's still 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.120 not having fun in this day. So I'm proud that 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.200 I wore my my Halloween customes. But you know, but 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.200 the thing is, is that guy and I'm sure, I'm 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.720 sure anybody listening to the episode right now can identify 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:41.800 with costuming and that sort of role play, identity change element. 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:43.720 And there's a science to this too. This isn't just 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.880 gonna be us riffing about what it's like to wear 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.240 Halloween costumes. There's been a ton of studies on this way, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.960 more than I thought we would find. Actually, Yeah, there's 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.040 a like I knew there would be a tie to 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.640 the topic of in clothed cognition that we'll talk about, 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.040 and a long time listeners to the show might remember 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.120 an episode in the past that dealt a little bit 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.280 within closed cognition. But there's there are a number of 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.880 studies that deal specifically with Halloween costumes and how Halloween 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.440 costumes impact both children and adults. Yeah, so there are 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.760 two specific things that I want to sort of start 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.320 off with us maybe like thesis statements for this episode, 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.040 and we'll see if they're approved by the evidence that 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.840 we go through throughout the episode. The first is that 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.800 there's this idea that Halloween is a and the costumes 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.520 that we see in the acts that we see during 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.320 it are a reflection of what's happening in our culture 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.439 at that point in time, and that it's sort of, 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.319 uh is also a transgressive element, right, that there are 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.360 boundaries within our society that are some of them are 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.680 asking to be pushed, and Halloween is the time when 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.600 that happens. And you know, in some degrees that can 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.320 lead to social change and other degrees, as we'll talk about, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.640 it's maybe a kind of social regression as well. But 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.080 so I want us to keep that in mind that 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.520 it it seems to be this period of time that 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.760 reflects kind of I hate using this term, but the 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.280 zeitgeist of what's going on in American culture at the time. 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.439 And I understand that it's becoming more popular in some 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.960 European nations as well, so um, you know, perhaps they're 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.080 seeing that as well. Well. You know, just over the 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.600 past ten years, you can look to one particular Halloween 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:22.760 costume is playing a significant role in uh in social movements. 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.000 That being, of course, the V for Vendetta mask, which 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.439 is Halloween costume mask based on the motion picture. That's 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:33.920 always fascinated me from the perspective of you know, and 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:35.760 I'll talk about this later, but you know, in my 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.160 outside life, I write comic books, and I attend a 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.760 lot of comic book conventions throughout the year, and so 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.120 I see a lot of costumes. And when the movie 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:44.680 came out and all of a sudden, I started seeing 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.120 a lot of people both at these shows and at 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:52.840 Halloween wearing the Guy Fox mask, it really struck me 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.600 as being ironic because there's such a um as you 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.679 just brought up, there's such an association and symbolism of 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.120 bellion associated with that that mask that I don't know 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.160 necessarily that the customers themselves even knew it necessarily, even 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.079 though the movie sort of presents that as a as 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:15.319 a symbolic point. Yeah. Yeah, it's been. It's been a 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.439 fascinating transformation with that particular man of the particular character. Yeah. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.600 So before we start talking about these studies, which you know, 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.480 we're gonna be working our way from nineteen seventies six 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.199 up until present day, there's been so many studies. Uh, 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.280 I want to just throw out this fact for you. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:39.319 In one point four billion dollars were spent on Halloween 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.920 costumes in America alone. And that's according to the National 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:47.040 Retail Federation. That is a tremendous sum of money. And 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.600 I guess I never really stopped to think about it before. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.480 But of course, like I don't know what it's like 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.600 in other parts of the country, but here in Atlanta 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.360 we have these these like pop up halloween stores where 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.320 like there used to be uh, you know, like a 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.040 department store like a Macy's or something, and it's since left. 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.000 And for just the month of October, these halloween stores 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.199 move in and all they sell their costumes and Halloween 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.880 knickknacks and things like that. Uh. And I always it 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.400 always struck me as like, wow, like can you turn 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.960 a profit just in a month like that? And obviously 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.600 you can if there's that much money going into it. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.880 And it's especially interesting to see that it's doing that 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.480 kind of business. After all those kids melted in the 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.640 Silver Shamrock mass That was a shame. That was a shame. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.120 I was young when that happened, But yeah, I can't 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:34.800 believe in the snakes came out of their eyes. And 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.680 we are, of course referring to Halloween three colon Season 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.600 of the Witch, one of our favorite movies. Here' stuff 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.760 to blow your mind. In fact, last year, Uh Joe, 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.640 super producer Noel and myself got together with our partners 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.840 and watched that movie. I don't know if it was 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:54.920 on Halloween, but it was like the week of Halloween 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:57.240 and it was great fun. Yeah, I think I watched 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.360 it for the first time last year as well at 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.120 night by myself the family was sleeping. But yeah, I 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.680 think it's it's a very flawed film, but it has 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.720 some it has some very just fantastic elements in it, 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.800 from the just wonderful soundtrack by John Carpenter now and 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.920 worth to uh the weird mix of like androids and 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:23.280 occult magic and big scary corporations like on paper, it's 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.800 it's a fabulous film, right. We were saying before the 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.120 taping that it would be it's right for a remake, 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.000 but it probably will never get remade. Like the idea 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.080 of so the central conceit of the movie is that 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:38.480 there's an evil magical corporation that is producing is it 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.280 three Halloween masks? It's three. Yeah, it's like a witch 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.480 a skull and I don't jack o lantern? Is that 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.640 the other one? Uh? And and their children's masks And 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.839 if these children wear their Halloween masks and watch a 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:57.560 like evil magical commercial simultaneously, they will all die. Yeah, 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.280 they will die and serve as some sort of a 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:04.920 child sack five and they ancient ritual. It's a bizarre movie, 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.080 but it's this was before Basically the idea I think 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.560 was that the Halloween movies, before they were dominated by 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.000 Michael Myers, were supposed to be like an anthology series. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.080 This is going to kickstart anthology Halloween. So each year 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.160 we'd get a different Halloween film on the different plot. 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:22.640 And sadly that didn't happen because nobody liked Halloween three 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.559 until it had time to uh, you know, to cure 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.560 and sure over over the years. It's like a fine one. 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.200 It is. It is a fine one that not everyone's 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.600 palate is going to be susceptible to. But at heart 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.440 Halloween three season of the which is about masks changing 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.840 children absolutely now in the movie, it changes them into 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.360 a pile of goo and snakes and whatnot. But in 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:53.240 reality it does seem to change our children into something else. Yeah. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.120 I wonder if, well, I wonder if those screenwriters of 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.000 Halloween three were inspired by this first study, or maybe 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:01.760 the first two studies we're going to talk about, because 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:03.920 the first was in seventy six, the next one was 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.439 in seventies seventy nine. Yeah, so the whole time when 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.840 I'm reading these, I'm picturing the uh, the sort of 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.840 idyllic uh nineteen late nineteen seventies setting of the at 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.040 least the first two Halloween phrase. Um. So this is 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:20.479 in nineteen seventy six, Steady effects of d individualization variables 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.320 on stealing among Halloween trigger treaters. This was published in 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.480 the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology again in seventy 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:32.440 six February. So, well, this is what happened. The psychologist 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:37.280 involved covertly observed the behavior of a about a thousand 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.200 trigger treaters at twenty seven different Seattle homes. So each 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.280 each house has the same setup, one bowl filled with 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.320 candy and an additional bowl filled with pennies and nickels. 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.120 Because you know you're going triggar treating, you want to 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.440 get some pennies. And nickels. Yeah, that's that strike struck 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.160 me as weird. But I was also born a year 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.640 after the study is conducted, so maybe it's something I 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.760 missed out on. So um. The researcher answer the door 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.680 when the Halloween trick or peters show up, and sometimes 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.600 the researcher asks the matt the costume children what their 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.480 names are. Oh, you're a de life looking which what's 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.680 your name? Oh it's Susie. Other times they let the 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.840 children retain their anonymity. They can continue to just be 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.560 werewolves and mummies and witches. Right, And that's important because 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.040 it helps to reinforce the identity. Right, Okay, are no 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.520 longer Susan? Yeah, instead they are you know, broom Hill 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.880 to the Witch and uh, you know Oscar the money 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:35.080 or whatever. Um. So at this point the researchers say, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.120 all right, I have to go deal with something else 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.880 inside the house. One shut the door. Only take one 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.840 piece of candy, and then they shut the door. But 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.680 they're they're watching through the peephole the whole time. Nice 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.800 scientific use of the people. Yeah, they didn't have like 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.040 a nest thing that they could mount on their wall 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.560 and watched through their smartphone. Yeah, they're just going around 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.040 like peeking through a curtain and scribbling on a notepad. 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.720 The results, though, were kids who are allowed to remain 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:04.240 anonymous stole money and extra candy roughly three times as 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.720 often as those who gave up their names, and kids 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.480 who came in groups, so just a complete pack of 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.880 you know, short little gremlins. Um, those who came in 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.960 groups both named and anonymous were more than twice as 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.080 likely to steal as those who came alone. Wow, Okay, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.200 so I don't I guess the study The findings of 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.520 this aren't all that surprising, knowing what I know, just 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.120 from living life and having costume before and knowing other 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.800 human beings. So that the the idea of the anonymity 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:37.840 this is pre social media too, so I think that 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:39.400 that has something to do with it as well. Right 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.880 that we now know that anonymity leads to people doing 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.000 things that they think that they won't have repercussions for it. Right. Um, 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.400 But then that the group factor as well as is 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.320 the really interesting one. So how the pennies come into play? 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.280 Do they steal those as well? Nichols? Okay, And and 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.400 my my reading of this, the study they didn't even 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.720 say okay, also, you can take a amount of coins 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.040 the right of the coins. They just left him there. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.520 It was like, yeah, this is just for decorations, and 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.800 these kids just grab Yeah. It's it's also interesting to 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.760 read this thinking about my own interactions with grantities are 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.399 like three year olds, but watching them feed off of 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:19.640 each other's energy. Like you get to three year olds 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.880 in a room and they'll suddenly just start feeding off 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.000 each other and displaying behavior that individually they wouldn't do, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.919 but they just they're just like there's a heightened susceptibility 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.720 to group think and uh like you know, imaginative, uh, 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.480 the association. It's it's interesting. Well we're going to talk 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.800 about this throughout this episode, and there's a study that 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.600 it's coming up that specifically refers to it. But that 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:47.159 is like that zone that age around between three and 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.240 five is sort of that zone where you're still you 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.280 understand sort of you know when people say like you're 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.720 a boy, or you know, you're um, you're from Atlanta, 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.040 George jar or whatever, like you understand those words, but 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.480 the actual identity part hasn't really like all glamed together yet. 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.640 So the group think kind of thing seems to happen 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.280 a little easier at that age. I mean, you are 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.160 observing it right now. Oh yeah. Like my my son 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.879 and his friend Leo, they had a time at the 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.040 playground the other day where all they did is just 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.280 marched around and chanted we are Daddy elephants the whole time. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.440 So yeah, and they don't do that on their own, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.600 but together they engage in that. So I feel like 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.720 it's the same sort of energy at work now. I 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.399 miss that. We need to we need to bring that back. 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.200 We'll have after this. We're gonna have a weird Daddy 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.440 Elephants session in office. Now. There's a nineteen seventy nine 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.679 study that followed this up and and and indeed the 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.600 researchers here set out to replicate the results of the 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.640 seventy eight study. Uh. And this one is titled Halloween 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.320 Masks and d Individualization. Uh And this was published in 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:58.000 Psychology Reports April nineteen seventy nine. So this time they 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.960 looked at fifty eight costume kids ages nine through thirteen, 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.800 and all of them in this cases are unaccompanied by adults, 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.119 so there are no adults there to, you know, to 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:12.960 to inflict rules and regulations on the Halloween traditions. They 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.240 This time, the researchers tell the children to take two 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.200 and only two pieces of candy from a bowl. Uh, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.119 and then they shut the door. The same situation takes place. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.480 They peek around the corner through the people. This is 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.639 what they found. Mass children were significantly more likely to 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:32.240 violate the instructions grabbing a healthy fistful of candy sixty 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.080 two percent of the time versus thirty seven percent for 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:41.360 unmasked counterparts. That's interesting, especially because the age difference, so 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.199 we're talking nine to thirteen year olds here instead of 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.719 the much younger children in the first study. Also that 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.480 what I'm noticing is that they're completely different authors for 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.960 both studies. So this wasn't um the first team trying 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.240 to replicate their efforts. It was an entirely different team, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:59.040 probably in a different part of the country. Well, and 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.600 I think it's worth us explaining what they mean when 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.919 they say d individual ation here, right, So that is 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:11.480 a psychological process by which a person's identity is subsumed. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.080 This is the This isn't my language, obviously, Obviously I 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.639 don't throw subsumed around a lot. But it's subsumed by 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.040 the identity of a larger group, and in this case, 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.600 the mask thing can can play into it. Right. Uh, 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.680 I wonder if the kids were masked and they were 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:33.240 by themselves, if this you know how this would play out? Well? 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.000 In this uh, this is a particular study. They were 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.439 they were unaccompanied by adults, so there were no adults. No, 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:40.879 I mean no other children too. I guess, like, what 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:43.760 creepy kid goes around all by themselves trick or treating 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:50.800 at nine years old. Well, in the first study, they 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:53.840 did find that kids who came in groups were more 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.040 than twice as likely to steal what's those who came along. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.240 So yeah, there's definitely uh, you know, one is potentially 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:01.359 a problem, but you can two together and they're just 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.040 going to fall into that that group identity of the 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.119 trick or treating fiends. So okay, So all right. The 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:13.240 first thing that we're establishing here is that, uh, costuming, 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.520 especially during Halloween, provides a certain amount of anonymity, and 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.800