Trick-or-treaters love ringing doorbells and screaming in adults' faces for candy. Occasionally, adults avoid the mischief and mayhem by leaving a big bowl of candy outside their door with directions that say "Please Take One." According to a study, however, only one in four trick-or-treaters follow these candy restrictions.

In 1976, four psycholgists studied children's trick-or-treating habits. The study was published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Over 1,000 trick-or-treaters were studied as they went from door to door in Seattle from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. An adult would tell kids to take one piece of candy from a bowl and also left an unsupervised bowl of nickels and dimes for the taking.

During the experiment, 69 percent of children took a piece of candy. Of those 69 percent, 65 percent of children took more than one piece. The kids who broke the rules took an average of between 1.6 and 2.3 additional sweets. Kids that trick-or-treated with their friends were two times more likely to take extra candy. Many of the candy lovers followed their friends' footsteps: "In 85 percent of the cases observed, kids would mimic the behavior of whoever dug into the candy first," The Washington Post reported.

Thirteen percent of the children took some of the nickels and dimes. One in five kids took both candy and money.

When the adult in question asked kids their name, they were less likely to indulge in more than one piece of candy. Apparently, the children were scared that they would be tracked down for their crime of indulgence if their name was already divulged.

So if you are concerned kids may swipe more of your candy than you would like, be sure to get their names first.

Related