Does the moon change peoples behavior and attitudes? How?

Psychology Today, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Marissa Kantor

Q: DOES THE FULL moon influence human behavior?

A: EVERYTHING FROM increases in violent crime and psychotic behavior to stock market fluctuations has been blamed on the effects of the fully illuminated moon. In 19th-century England, lawyers used the "guilty by reason of the full moon" defense to claim that their "lunatic" clients could not be held accountable for acting under the moon's influence.

In his 1978 best seller, How the Moon Affects You, psychiatrist Arnold Lieber argued rather unscientifically that the moon has an effect on the human body (which is 65 percent water) that is similar to its pull on the ocean's tides.

Despite these many assertions, scientists who have investigated the matter have come up empty-handed University of Sydney researchers found no link to the moon's cycle in two separate studies, one of violent or aggressive behavior, the other of dog bites that required human hospitalization.

And in an analysis that ought to put to rest any lingering doubts, Ivan Kelly, a psychologist at the University of Saskatchewan, found in a review of over 100 studies of lunar cycles and behavior--including emergency room admissions and suicide attempts--nothing to suggest that humans are affected by Earth's satellite.

So why do 81 percent of mental health professionals, according to a University of New Orleans study, believe that lunar cycles affect human behavior? Part of the reason is historical: The illuminated moon played a more prominent role for our ancestors as both a calendar and a night-light. Before electric lighting became ubiquitous, a bright moon was more likely to disrupt sleep, producing widespread grouchiness.

Kelly also cites what psychologists call confirmation bias, selective thinking whereby we seek out information that confirms our beliefs and ignore evidence that challenges them. Says Kelly, "Some beliefs are just exciting to hold, whatever the evidence."

COPYRIGHT 2005 Sussex Publishers, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

My mother worked as a dispatcher for the police dept as well as the county 911 call center and without fail, there was an increase in crime during a full moon. I can say that, for myself, there's a part of me that really wants to cut loose and get drunk (I MAY have a beer or two only and maybe once or twice a month at that so I'm not a heavy drinker by any means). I mean, wild, can't remember what I did kind of drunk. When I feel that urge, I definitely look at the calendar to see what lunar phase we're in and it's always within a day either way of a full moon. I can't explain why this is but it IS.

The tidal influence exerted by a physical body depends both on distance and on mass. The tidal influence exerted by the sun and the moon are nearly the same. The tidal influence on your person from objects near by you is far greater. The reason the moon and sun affect the ocean tides is because they are massive enough that their effect can be felt on the entire planet. Therefore it is unlikely the moon affects our moods via tides.

This has been tested. There are more emergency room visits on nights when there is a full moon, there is more violent crime, etc. But the more likely explanation is that more people are out when there's more light! The light from a full moon does affect our circadian rhythms, thus making people (generally) less tired, and more likely to be out. It does not really affect the way people think or make the, “lunatics.”

Yes, the moon is a factor in peoples behavior. I used to work in a nursing home, and we always knew (without checking) when there was a full moon. The patients were in total chaos! Also, in the nursery at our local hospital, the nurses will agree that on a full moon night, there are many more births than other days. Another example, when I worked at Verizon, people would call in about their service, bills, and such, and on a full moon, they were sooo horrible!

Moon and your moods

Perhaps one of the biggest changes that a young girl goes through, in the transition of adolescence, is the new experience of intense moods and emotions.

All of a sudden you may start to feel such a range of feelings over which you often feel you have no control. One minute you're up and the next minute you're down. Instead of experiencing life as a fairly even, black and white kind of existence, you are starting to realise that there are all sorts of shades of gray, with new (sometimes unfair) awarenesses coming to the fore.

Alot of this fluctuation of mood is due to hormones, and some of it is due to the influence of the moon.

In myth the Moon is said to rule things like feelings, intuition, cycles, feeling safe, psychic powers, fertility and creativity.

Most children are very intuitive and in tune with their inner selves, picking up the subtle energies of what is really going on around them. Sometimes this intuitive ability is belittled, ignored and criticised, which causes that intuition to go underground. At puberty when a girl starts her period, the ability to be intuitive and more in touch with subtle energy resurfaces.

The female human body is synchronised to cycle with the moon. When you start having periods your intuitive ability increases.

Although there is no strong scientific proof of this phenomenon, the idea lies in the fact that our brain consists of water and as you know the Moon affects water with it's gravitational pull. The idea is that just like the Moon effects tides the Moon also pulls water to one side of our brain or something as such.

I think this is just a myth (the changing of behavior, not the tides, of course). There has been no casual relationship found between the phases of the moon and human behavior.

there is not any statistical evidence to help that this happens-really i'm no longer kidding. it has continually been theory that there grow to be a connection-hence the time period lunatic. My adventure seems to disagree with the stats, yet i really do not have time to mag i all. I see more beneficial seizure interest, more beneficial human beings bypass into labor, more beneficial flaky habit, more beneficial violence, more beneficial exacerbation of psychosis-yet till I end college, i'm only a psychological well being Tech. software manager, what do i understand?