8. Halloween May Actually Make Kids Evil
From The Children of the Corn to Omen, few things are more unsettling and terrifying than evil children. Possessed or inherently evil children are a popular figure in horror films, with a particularly famous example being The Exorcist, in which a demonic entity possesses a young girl. Perhaps even more frightening than these fictional examples is the idea that the very holiday of Halloween, and its associated traditions, may make regular, everyday children slightly evil as a result of engaging in the festivities.
Having children dress up and head out together in groups with a common goal (in this case candy) has been shown to lead to “deindividuation,” a state in which group members feel less responsible for their own reactions as a result of being so deeply immersed in group behavior.
Specific studies of this Halloween deindividuation in children have found that costumed, unsupervised children are more likely to steal candy and money than both children not in a group and non-costumed children. Masked children were also exposed to be more likely to take more candy than they were supposed to if they believed there was no adult supervision. It would seem the only real monsters on Halloween are precocious masked children run amok!