Halloween in the 1900s: How Applied Behavior Analysis Shaped the Future of Trick-or-treating
On a typical October 31st, dozens of children may ring your door bell, yell “trick-or-treat” and then hold out their bag for candy. Have you ever thought about how trick-or-treating came to be? There is a lot of interesting history that makes trick-or-treating what it is today, but you may not have heard of a lesser known story of a Des Moines woman in 1938 (who we could consider an early behaviorist) who shaped a whole community’s behavior on Halloween night that has persisted even until today.
Halloween in the 1930s looked very different from today. Although children dressed in costumes, it was a night where children caused some serious mischief. Children played pranks on neighbors they disliked, made bonfires in the streets, soaped people’s windows or threw rocks and bricks at people’s homes. The pranks were also accompanied by begging for food and treats where adults felt blackmailed into giving children food for fear they would be prey to vandalism. In Des Moines Iowa, every year on November 1st the newspaper would publish a police report of the list of children and teens charged with crimes committed on the previous night. Although these crimes were punished, the list continued to grow each year. Some of this was exemplified in the 1944 movie, “Meet Me in St. Louis” that was set in 1904.
Enough was enough! In 1938 when police answered a record of 550 calls concerning vandalism, Kathryn Krieg who was the Director of Recreation for the Des Moines Playground Commission (known today as the Parks and Recreation Department) initiated a campaign to change Halloween misconduct. She set to replace violent crimes for some Halloween fun.
She announced that October 30 would be set aside as Beggars’ Night where, for that night only, children would be allowed to go door to door, ring the door bell and say the phrase “tricks or eats.” She urged the community to have treats available to children who would perform a “trick” which meant singing a song, reciting a joke or poem, demonstrating cartwheels or juggling.
Krieg used a very effective procedure of behavior change that Behavior Professionals might call, Reinforcing Alternate Behaviors.
Every year, she reiterated that children who participate in Beggars’ Night should not get rewarded unless they have earned it with their “trick” or “stunt”. Now instead of providing a treat to prevent being pranked or vandalized, home owners were reinforcing entertaining and alternate behaviors. Not only did Beggar’s Night gain traction, it worked! The following year had less than half the police calls reporting vandalism than the previous year and by 1941, just three years later, there were a recorded 22 police calls on Beggars’ Night. Even today if you live in the areas of Des Moines, Iowa, parts of Ohio, Massachusetts and New York you may still get children performing, “tricks” as part of their Halloween trick-or-treating.
Tatum has over a decade of clinical experience as a behavior analyst. She was formerly the director of a treatment center, and was in charge of implementing clinical solutions using a variety of our competitors’ software systems. She joined Motivity as a support consultant last year, and has quickly taken the lead in managing our support and services activities. She is the go-to person for challenging customer issues, and has earned the gratitude and affection of our clients and our support engineers alike, with her skillful approach to problem solving and her steadfast commitment to customer satisfaction.
Tatum Winslow, BCBA
Director of Clinical Support
Tatum has over a decade of clinical experience as a behavior analyst. She was formerly the director of a treatment center, and was in charge of implementing clinical solutions using a variety of our competitors’ software systems. She joined Motivity as a support consultant last year, and has quickly taken the lead in managing our support and services activities. She is the go-to person for challenging customer issues, and has earned the gratitude and affection of our clients and our support engineers alike, with her skillful approach to problem solving and her steadfast commitment to customer satisfaction.
Cara Lechleiter
Director of Sales
Cara is passionate about caregiving and education, and has dedicated her career to various roles within those industries. Her experience includes teaching, behavior analysis, supervising teacher candidates, developing curriculum, founding a music/choral program for learners with special needs, marketing, sales, and client relations. As a lifelong learner, she is dedicated to continuously gaining new skills and experiences.
Cara Lechleiter
Director of Sales
Cara is passionate about caregiving and education, and has dedicated her career to various roles within those industries. Her experience includes teaching, behavior analysis, supervising teacher candidates, developing curriculum, founding a music/choral program for learners with special needs, marketing, sales, and client relations. As a lifelong learner, she is dedicated to continuously gaining new skills and experiences.
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Brian Curley
Director of Product Marketing
Brian is an ABA industry expert with an extensive background working for and building some of the original software in the ABA market. His lengthy entrepreneurial background, paired with both a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in graphic design, Brian’s strengths come from having a deep understanding of user experience, user workflows, branding, and software and product design.
Brian Curley
Director of Product Marketing
Brian is an ABA industry expert with an extensive background working for and building some of the original software in the ABA market. His lengthy entrepreneurial background, paired with both a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in graphic design, Brian’s strengths come from having a deep understanding of user experience, user workflows, branding, and software and product design.
Rex Jakobovits PhD
President
Dr. Jakobovits is an experienced business leader who has a long career in clinical software. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from the University of Washington, then built a successful start up, Vivialog Technologies, which he sold to McKesson in 2008. He served as a Vice President at McKesson for 5 years before leaving to launch Motivity Systems. He is widely published in computer science and informatics journals, and has been awarded several patents. He has raised over $13M in seed capital for his startups through NIH Small Business Innovative Research grants. He is a Research Affiliate with the University of Washington Autism Center.
Rex Jakobovits PhD
President
Dr. Jakobovits is an experienced business leader who has a long career in clinical software. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from the University of Washington, then built a successful start up, Vivialog Technologies, which he sold to McKesson in 2008. He served as a Vice President at McKesson for 5 years before leaving to launch Motivity Systems. He is widely published in computer science and informatics journals, and has been awarded several patents. He has raised over $13M in seed capital for his startups through NIH Small Business Innovative Research grants. He is a Research Affiliate with the University of Washington Autism Center.
Emaley McCulloch M.Ed. BCBA
VP of Clinical Products
Emaley McCulloch co-founded Autism Training Solutions (ATS), an online learning company, in 2010 which has trained hundreds of thousands of professionals and parents around the globe in evidence-based autism interventions. ATS was acquired by Relias in 2014 and after serving as the VP of Research for 5 years, is currently the Vice President of Clinical Products at Motivity Systems. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and holds an MA in Special Education. She has over 20 years’ experience in the field of autism and ABA and has provided and overseen services to hundreds of individuals between the ages of 18 months to 24 years in homes, schools and clinical settings. For eight years she served as a consultant and Clinical Supervisor at agencies based in Hawaii and Japan where she trained groups of professionals and parents.
Emaley McCulloch M.Ed. BCBA
VP of Clinical Products
Emaley McCulloch co-founded Autism Training Solutions (ATS), an online learning company, in 2010 which has trained hundreds of thousands of professionals and parents around the globe in evidence-based autism interventions. ATS was acquired by Relias in 2014 and after serving as the VP of Research for 5 years, is currently the Vice President of Clinical Products at Motivity Systems. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and holds an MA in Special Education. She has over 20 years’ experience in the field of autism and ABA and has provided and overseen services to hundreds of individuals between the ages of 18 months to 24 years in homes, schools and clinical settings. For eight years she served as a consultant and Clinical Supervisor at agencies based in Hawaii and Japan where she trained groups of professionals and parents.
Catalin Bocirnea
Chief Technology Officer
As Motivity’s CTO and Chief Software Architect, Catalin is the core designer and implementer of Motivity’s architecture and user experience. His industry experience spans more than 20 years, across a multitude of domains. He has 10 patents on diverse applications such as data encoding, user interaction, and latency compensation. Prior to joining Motivity, Catalin was a chief architect of McKesson Corporation’s market-leading, large scale radiology systems. His extensive expertise and diverse background have allowed him to take a unique approach to designing Motivity’s cutting-edge knowledge modeling capabilities.
Catalin Bocirnea
Chief Technology Officer
As Motivity’s CTO and Chief Software Architect, Catalin is the core designer and implementer of Motivity’s architecture and user experience. His industry experience spans more than 20 years, across a multitude of domains. He has 10 patents on diverse applications such as data encoding, user interaction, and latency compensation. Prior to joining Motivity, Catalin was a chief architect of McKesson Corporation’s market-leading, large scale radiology systems. His extensive expertise and diverse background have allowed him to take a unique approach to designing Motivity’s cutting-edge knowledge modeling capabilities.