15. How Halloween Makes Kids More Monstrous

The author begins the article by saying that an "unacknowledged Halloween ritual" is lying to children. By this he means when we tell kids that they look very scary in their costumes. He then changes subjects in the next paragraph by saying that kids can be "monstrous" when they trick or treat in groups. A study was done in 1976 in Seattle with trick-or-treaters. The results showed that kids who were anonymous or in groups were more likely to steal candy than kids who were identified or alone. A similar study was done in 1979. The results showed that masked kids tended to take more candy than they were instructed to, keeping in consistency with the other study. Psychologists then explain who when people are masked or in groups, they feel as if mischief is more acceptable. Another study done in 1993 showed similar results but with college students and alcohol. A study done in 2012 showed that different outfits affect peoples behavior. The author ties this into the other ideas of the essay and concludes the article.

The article was interesting and well written. The paragraphs easily flowed into one another. The author is able to achieve this by using transition words and phrases. The authors purpose is to inform the reader of how Halloween can make kids "monstrous". He does this using a casual tone. This tone is acquired by using informal expressions. For example "scary scary" and "listen up"  He references different studies done that support his thesis of kids behavior. He is even able to tie in a study done with college kids and one done about clothes. He ends the article by giving a sort of advise to parents who dress their kids for Halloween. He gives his opinion that dressing kids in costumes isn't always good. This ending really supports his informal and casual tone without overdoing it. He also had a touch of humor in his article, especially when giving his opinion at the end. The humor went along well with his tone.      

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/how-halloween-makes-kids-more-monstrous/382172/