Playing Pretend: The Psychology of Costume & Identity

Most of us have experienced that moment of transformation when we put on a costume. The way a pirate hat makes us stand taller, or how fake fangs bring out a mischievous grin. Halloween, themed parties, even a silly office dress-up day can invite us to step into another version of ourselves. Many cultures even have traditions hundreds of years old built around dressing up – Carnival, Holi, Mardi Gras for just a couple. But why does slipping into costume feel so freeing? And what does it reveal about who we are underneath?

The Safe Space of Pretend and Trying on Different ‘Selves’

From childhood, we learn about the world through play. Putting on a superhero cape or a nurse’s outfit helps kids explore roles, values, and emotions — courage, care, creativity — in a safe, imaginative way. Adults aren’t so different. Dressing up gives permission to experiment with identity outside the expectations of our everyday roles.

When we change how we look, it subtly changes how we feel and behave. Psychologists call this enclothed cognition — the idea that clothing doesn’t just signal identity, it shapes it. Studies have found that people perform differently depending on what they wear. We might feel more confident in a suit, more focused in activewear, or more playful in costume. The clothes we choose send cues to both our brain and others about who we’re being in that moment.

At a Halloween party, a usually reserved person might suddenly become the loudest in the room while dressed as a flamboyant vampire. It’s not that they’ve become someone else entirely. It’s that the costume allows them to safely access parts of their personality that usually stay hidden.

The Freedom of Wearing a Mask

There’s a commonly held belief that hiding behind a mask can help us hide from who we are, or even makes it more likely we’ll engage in criminal activity. However, this has generally been shown to be false. 

Paradoxically, hiding behind a mask can actually make us more authentic. When people feel anonymous or less recognisable, social self-consciousness drops. We stop worrying quite so much about how we’re being perceived, and our behaviour loosens.

This is part of why dressing up can be liberating. It’s a socially sanctioned moment of escape from the “shoulds” of daily life. We can take off the work persona, the parent persona, the polite-in-public persona, and try on something more playful, bold, or even absurd.

The mask becomes a metaphor for psychological safety. A thin layer of artifice that protects us enough to reveal something real. Think of the friend who finally dances at a party when wearing a silly wig, or the shy child who beams with confidence in costume. In those moments, disguise becomes a doorway to expression.

The Roles We Play Every Day

Of course, we don’t just wear costumes at Halloween. We wear invisible ones every day — the “professional,” the “carer,” the “peacemaker,” the “competent one.” These roles can be adaptive and necessary; they help us function in different contexts. But sometimes, we get stuck in them.

Part of the magic of dressing up is that it shines a light on just how many versions of ourselves exist. We realise that identity isn’t fixed. It’s fluid, context-dependent, and far more flexible than we tend to believe.

In therapy, this flexibility is often a strength we want to build on. Being able to step into different “selves” — the confident self, the calm self, the playful self — can help people navigate challenges. Just as we can switch from jeans to a blazer, we can shift mindsets when we need to.

The Comfort of Belonging

Costumes aren’t only about self-expression; they’re also deeply social. Group themes — like everyone going as their favourite film characters — foster connection and belonging. In a world where people often feel disconnected, that shared sense of play matters.

Psychologically, group rituals like Halloween parties help reinforce social bonds. There’s a sense of “we’re in this together,” which releases feel-good hormones and reduces stress. Even shy or anxious individuals can feel safer joining in when everyone is participating — the collective silliness levels the playing field.

For some, dressing up also provides a way to be seen differently — to show a side of themselves that others might not expect. The quiet colleague who comes in as a rock star or a zombie bride is showing “There’s more to me than you think.” And that’s something most of us can relate to.

What Our Choice of Costume Reveals About Us

While not every costume has deep meaning, our choices can sometimes reflect inner wishes, values, or emotions. A costume might express who we want to be — brave, powerful, funny, elegant — or simply let us play with contrast, like the gentle person who chooses to be a villain.

Jungian psychology talks about the “shadow” — the parts of ourselves we keep hidden or underused. Although Jung’s theories are less utilised in the therapy room these days, we can all relate to having parts of ourselves that we don’t often embody. Dressing up can be a light-hearted way of engaging with those parts. It’s no accident that Halloween is full of archetypes: witches, heroes, monsters, tricksters. They represent timeless human traits, our fears, desires, and contradictions, and give us a symbolic language to explore them without shame.

So, next time you’re tempted to roll your eyes at a costume party, consider it an invitation to meet a new facet of yourself.

Beyond the Costume: Integrating Play and Authenticity

You don’t need a holiday to experiment with identity. Everyday life offers opportunities to bring a little of that costume energy in — not by pretending to be someone else, but by embracing the parts of yourself that don’t always get airtime.

That might mean dressing in a way that makes you feel bolder, speaking up when you’d normally stay quiet, or giving yourself permission to be silly. In therapy and personal growth alike, play isn’t frivolous; it’s how we safely test and integrate new ways of being.

So whether you’re donning fairy wings or fake blood this Halloween, know that it’s more than just a costume. It’s a glimpse into the beautifully multifaceted nature of being human. And a reminder that we’re allowed to play with who we are.

 

If you’d like to read more about identity, we explore how our jobs can unhelpfully define us here. If you’re on a Halloween kick, we also have a blog on how superstitions interact with anxiety. Or you could try this podcast exploring Spooky Folklore and the Psychology of Horror.