How Trick-or-Treaters Gone Bad Can Trick You Into Your Best Behavior

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Ed Diener longed to study positive psychology, but back in the 1970s when he was a grad student, the focus of psychology was the dark side of human nature. It was common to design studies such as Milgram's shocking experiments or the famous Stanford prison experiment to examine the myriad conditions--some as simple as obeying a guy in a lab coat or playing the role of an imaginary prison guard--that would make otherwise normal people become beastly. Thanks to Ed Diener, the seventies were also the golden age of using tiny treat-or-treaters as the subjects of psychology experiments, but rather than make us lament how we're just a lab coat or a prison uniform away from becoming the purveyors of torture, Diener's classic Halloween studies uncovered a strategy that we can use in a positive way to improve our lives.

Diener and his colleagues set up an experiment where more than a thousand children were observed as they approached a house in Seattle in their Halloween costumes. A woman would answer the door and tell the children she had something to do in another room, but the children could take ONE candy from a bowl that was displayed along with a tantalizing bowl of coins. Left alone at the door, would the children do as they were told?

It depended.

If the child was alone and the adult who answered the door asked for their name and where they lived (apparently this was not considered abnormal back in 1974), only 7.5 percent of the children would take more candy and/or money than instructed. But if the children were in a group and nobody had asked for their name and address, 52.7 percent took more than one piece of candy and/or the money on the table. Such is the power of what psychologists call deindividuation. Anything that makes us feel removed from our sense of self that consists of pieces of other people mixed in with our own experiences to create something uniquely Frankensteinly us, will make it more likely that we'll do things we wouldn't normally do.

As if to drive home the message that self awareness keeps us honest, Diener performed a follow-up experiment a few years later in which a mirror was placed behind the candy and money bowls so that half the 363 trick-or-treaters who approached the bowls would look at themselves as they either took one candy or broke the rules. Whereas 28.5 percent of children broke the rules when there was no mirror, only 14.5 percent took candy when there was a mirror present, and only 9 percent disobeyed if they told the adult their name and where they lived and had to face themselves in a mirror.

So what does all this Halloween mischief from the 1970s have to do with you? Self-awareness, either metaphorically or literally looking at ourselves in the mirror, makes it less likely that we will engage in behaviour that violates who we think we should be.

I tried out this trick at a Halloween party that I hosted Friday night. Trying to keep my wine consumption to a quantity less than a witches' cauldron of Freakshow cabernet sauvignon, I made a point of looking at my reflection in the mirror periodically throughout the evening. It worked! I consumed far less than I normally would as the nervous Nelly of world-class neurotic "OMG-there's-a-streak-on-the-floor-that-I-must-wipe-up-immediately!" hostesses. And, as if to reinforce my ideal self image, I donned an angel's halo as I quaffed glass after glass of sparkling water.

But don't take my word for it. In the following 5-Minute Mirror Recharge, you'll take self-awareness to a new level, using every tool in Diener's psychological arsenal to make your sense of self front and centre so that you'll be poised to become the person you want to be the next time you're tempted to drift.

Your 5-Minute Mirror Recharge

To cultivate self awareness, you need to practice the opposite of deindividuation which is of course individuation. To individuate yourself, take 5 minutes and write about what makes you unique. List your hobbies, your hometown, your personal motto, as many things you can think of that make you, you. Keep it handy and read it aloud whenever you're adopting a new habit and want to stay on track. Ideally you want the self description to match the new habit, so if for example you want to establish a habit of going to the gym, be sure to describe yourself as an athlete, and if you want to be an angel at your next social gathering, be sure to describe your halo and your love of sparkling beverages.

Get Fully Charged on Tricking-and-Treating Yourself

Here are links to two classic Halloween studies that will make you think twice about taking more than one piece of candy:

Diener, E., Fraser, S. C., Beaman, A. L., & Kelem, R. T. (1976). Effects of deindividuation variables on stealing among Halloween trick-or-treaters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33(2), 178-183.

Diener, E., Westford, K. L., Diener, C., & Beaman, A. L. (1973). Deindividuating effects of group presence and arousal on stealing by Halloween trick-or-treaters. In H. D. Lindgren (Ed.), Children's behavior: An introduction to research studies (pp. 228-233). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. (Also appeared in 1973 APA Convention Proceedings)

This lunch thief needs to look at himself in the mirror.

To have a strong sense of self to gently guide you away from life's candy bowls of temptation, you need a modicum of self awareness. Because it's the cornerstone of emotional intelligence, there are many books on self awareness, but Tasha Eurich's Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think is a good place to begin to look in the mirror.

Ed Diener went on to realize his dream of studying positive psychology and has enjoyed a long, successful and happy career. Along with his son Robert, Ed wrote Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth.

About the Author: Her favourite Halloween costume was the year she dressed up as a mosquito. Fortunately this is not a persona she has maintained.

A rare advance copy of The 5-Minute Recharge: 31 Proven Strategies to Refresh, Reset and Become the Boss of Your Day goes to the most self aware commenter who shares their thoughts on the psychology of Halloween.

Happy Halloween! May your pumpkin be brimming with treats.