The psychology of spooky season

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The psychology of spooky season
Eliza Lanzillo, Ph.D. (Courtesy of Old Town Psychology)
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By Eliza Lanzillo, Ph.D.

Americans will spend billions of dollars this year on fake cobwebs, plastic skeletons and candy corn, according to Investopedia. But what drives millions of adults to seek out haunted houses and horror movies every October? The psychology behind our collective embrace of Halloween reveals fascinating insights about how we build community, process fear and maintain mental health.

At first glance, our enthusiasm for Halloween might seem contradictory. In an era when many of us carefully curate our social media presence and limit face-to-face interactions, Halloween stands out as a rare occasion when we literally open our doors to strangers. We willingly subject ourselves to fear, dress in outlandish costumes, and engage in what psychologists call “collective effervescence” – the shared emotional excitement that comes from participating in group traditions.

To understand Halloween’s powerful hold on our collective imagination, we need to examine four key aspects.

The role of nostalgia

The nostalgia factor plays a crucial role. Our childhood memories of selecting costumes, trick-or-treating with friends and sorting through candy create powerful emotional connections that persist into adulthood. These shared cultural experiences bridge the generational and demographic divides in ways few other traditions can match.

Even as costumes evolve from homemade bedsheet ghosts to store-bought superheroes, the core excitement remains the same. Parents often find themselves just as invested in Halloween as their children, recreating cherished memories while building new ones.

Kicking off the holiday season

Halloween isn’t just an isolated celebration – it functions as the opening ceremony for America’s season of gathering. The sequence of holidays from Halloween through New Year’s provides regular opportunities for shared experiences and traditions throughout the fall and winter months. Each holiday builds on the energy of the last, creating a rhythm of celebration that helps mark time and maintain connections.

A controlled experience

Perhaps most intriguing is Halloween’s role in helping us process fear. We live in an age of abstract threats – climate change, political polarization and economic uncertainty – that often feel overwhelming and uncontrollable. Halloween offers something different: concrete, manageable fears. A haunted house might make your heart race, but you know you can walk out. A horror movie might make you jump, but you can always close your eyes or press pause. It’s fear with boundaries or with an off-switch.

Research supports the benefit of controlled exposure to fear-inducing situations, particularly in social settings. Halloween essentially functions as a society-wide exercise in exposure therapy, allowing people to engage with fear in a socially acceptable, time-limited context.

The community aspect of this fear management is particularly important. We’re not facing these spooky experiences alone – we’re screaming together in haunted houses, jumping together at scary movies, sharing the experience of being frightened and surviving it. In an era where many of our fears are experienced in isolation, this shared confrontation with fear serves as a powerful societal glue that reinforces our bonds and reminds us of our common humanity.

Exploration of identity

Halloween also provides a rare opportunity for identity experimentation. In our hyper-branded, algorithm-driven world, where our identities are increasingly curated and commodified, Halloween offers a chance to try on completely different personas. This isn’t just fun, but is potentially therapeutic, allowing people to step outside their usual social constraints and expectations.

When you see the Halloween decorations emerge and the costumes come out, remember: you’re not just witnessing a commercialized holiday or quaint tradition. You’re participating in a complex social ritual that reflects fundamental aspects of human psychology.

Maybe that’s why Halloween continues to resonate year after year; it provides something we desperately need: a chance to connect through shared cultural experiences, face our fears together, safely explore our identities and have some fun in the process. 

The writer is a clinical psychologist at Old Town Psychology, an award-winning psychology practice in Alexandria offering therapy and cognitive assessments for all ages.

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