Do you believe the full moon affects how people behave?

Question

If it's true, some days/night seem permanent full moon.

Answer 1

The moon effects tides and thus weather and wind direction. If it can change something that is on such a great scale, it would be strange for us to think that the moon could not change humans behavior as well.

At the university of Miami a psychologist by the name of Arnold Lieberg decided to test the effect of the full moon on human behavior. They collected data from on homicide in Miami from the last past 15 years. 1, 887 murders files were collected, and the results were astounding. Most of the murders had taken place during the full moon and then the murder rate always declined during the first quarter. They repeated this experiment using data from Cleveland, Ohio with the same results.

Also a report by American Institute of Medical Climatology to the Philadelphia Police Department revealed that at the full moon most psychotically driven crimes were committed, such as murder, arson, dangerous driving, amoung others.

Besides crimes, bleeding seems to be linked to the full moon. "In the Journal of the Florida Medical Association, Dr. Edson J. Andrews writes that in a study of 1,000 tonsillectomies, 82 percent of postoperative bleeding crises occurred nearer the full than the new moon — despite the fact that fewer operations were performed at that time!" (quoted from innerself.com)

It has long been believed that the full moon caused people to go crazy, thus the term "lunacy". Scientific studies and homicidal reports seem to back up this information. But the question is, has it just been conditioned into us to believe so? Is it an old wives tale that has not yet been denoted as such, because of the ferverency of the believers? Perhaps it is the gravitational pull that effects us, as it does the tides, and it causes our blood to rise, and us to feel like we are being pulled towards the sky, and away from our homes that drives many mad.

The question is unanswerable. Despite many scientific studies, the results are always contradictory, deeming on who is doing the study and what part they are trying to prove. This all factors down to your own beliefs- is insanity a matter of unbalanced chemicals in your brain? Or is it a matter of conditioning? Is it completely internal or can it be effected by external sources?

I believe myself that some effects can be caused by the moon, but this is on a small scale, as there are no extreme outbreaks of mass hysteria during the full moon.

Answer 2

Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various magical phenomena such as lycanthropy. On a full moon the moon is in opposition to the sun, thus indicating that one's inner world of feelings and outer persona and expression may be in conflict with each other. Psychologists have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on behaviour around Full Moon. They find that studies are not consistent, with some showing a positive effect, while others will show a negative effect. In one instance, the December 23, 2000 issue of the British Medical Journal published two studies on dog bite admission to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common at Full Moon, while the study of public hospitals in Australia found they were less likely at Full Moon. Psychologists point out that there is a difference between correlation and causation. The mere fact that two events happen at the same time doesn't mean that there is a cause and effect relationship between the two.

Answer 3

Yup...just had a full moon the other day here. It's beautiful on a clear night with all the stars though.
Accidents and crazy drivers, well that's every day...but 2 yrs ago I was heading home from a game and noticed ...Wow, that's a clear full moon with a halo around it was an enjoyable drive that night. I was smiling as I looked over and this young punk in the car next to me was sticking his wide *** out the passenger window. He stayed like that all the way down the strip. It was pretty funny though, someone closed the power window on him and boy was he howling!!!

Answer 4

Yes. I believe it. I have had it happen. My behavior changes, I become more, how you say, frisky. Some guy even pointed out once that my eyes change colors. Like usually my eyes are a soft green with a brown lightning bolt around the pupil, but when there is a full moon, my eyes turn bright, almost blinding, green. He said the moment he saw my eyes that day he almost fell in love with me. It was pretty weird, because I had never noticed my eyes doing that before, but now I see what he was talking about.

Answer 5

I do! When I was pregnant and in prenatal classes our teacher said that every time there is a full moon, the maternity ward gets flooded with women who go into labor. I didn't believe it until one night I looked out and saw a full moon, then asked my husband if he remembered what she had said. My water broke about half our later, and she was three weeks early!

Answer 6

Oh yes it definately does. I used to work in a residential home and every full moon the residents seemed to go totally loopy.

Interestingly, that's why we have the word 'lunatic' - people were presumed to go mad when there was a full moon.

Answer 7

Yes it is true that about half way through the month at the time of the full moon, people get meaner.

Answer 8

Yes absolutely true. My gf can't sleep on full moon nights even if she doesn't know its full moon. Funny isn't it?

It doesn't affect me at all though. In fact, i love full moons! That was a beautiful one yesterday,!!

Answer 9

Yes, people give the Full Moon some kind of mystic qualities that simply aren't true.

Answer 10

Yes, especially myself. Usually whenever i notice there's a full moon i'm more energetic and crazy. cuz it's fun, so yes, i do believe that the full moon affects how people behave. ^_^