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The system has failed. My point is that the system, as we have constructed it, is a failed one. All kids choose "treat." None choose "trick." Not one. It is time to change course. It is time to cut and run from the Trick-Or-Treat option. That's my only point. We're a one-party system when it comes down to candy distribution.
Furthermore, it would seem more important at this point to get on with the taxonomy scheme project well underway, the one following from that dominant "treat" selection.
Have at it.
Comments
In the kid-on-the-porch / adult-in-the-doorway interaction typical of Halloween, it is the kid who offers the choice "Trick or treat!" and the adult who chooses. True, most adults choose to offer a treat. But the choice is made by the adult, not the child.
I see two possible reasons here. 1) the cost of suffering the trick is potentially much higher than the cost of offering a treat. A trick might be a soaped window, or a toilet papered yard, requiring much effort to set right. 1a) in addition one gets into psychological questions of known costs (adults know how much a candy bar costs) versus unknown costs, and the latter may loom much larger in the mind. 2) providing a treat to a happy child is something some adults find fun--so that the "treat" option is not just a lesser cost, but an actual benefit. Both factors (and they are not necessarily exclusive) would tend to lead to more frequent choice of the treat option.
FWIW
Posted by: Catherine Faber | November 2, 2006 6:33 PM