# Does the full moon really affect behaviour? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548 "2004-10-27T21:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548/1 "2004-10-27T21:57:13Z")
Well does it? Our dog just started acting like a wing nut out of no where. I’ve heard people say in the past that their pets always get super hyper around the full moon. Also the father of my buddy’s girlfriend was an ambulance driver and he said that nights with full moons were always the busiest? I don’t really buy this therory, any scientific proof out there? MtM ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548/2 "2004-10-27T22:03:14Z")
[Cecil knows.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_337.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548/3 "2004-10-27T22:20:07Z")
I’m pretty sure there was a article in **Skeptical Inquirer** on this entitled “The Moon was Full, and Nothing Happened”, but I couldn’t tell you when it appeared. Also, IIRC, there s a chapter on it in the book **Science and the Paranormal** edited by George Abell. In both pieces, the gist is th same as in Cecil’s piece, with the added twist that one case where there eemed to be a correlation, it turned out that the sample contained an inordinate number of dates in which the fill moon fell on a riday or Saturday, and reports of incidents _do_ correlate with weekends. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548/4 "2004-10-27T22:42:46Z")
It is irrefutable that 50% of crime happens within a week of a full moon. (Of course, 50% of everything happens within a week of a full moon, since that’s 2 out of the 4 weeks of a lunar month. ) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-full-moon-really-affect-behaviour/271548/5 "2004-10-27T22:45:16Z")
There are very few known correlations between behavior and fullness of moon, but they do exist. The most famous, perhaps, is [coral spawning](http://www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov/news/spawn.html), which happens on or immediately following a night with a full moon, apparently in order to synchronize the participants’ emissions and maximize cross-fertilization and healthy reproduction. But when it comes to human beings, go with Cecil. Ain’t nuthin’ to it but confirmation bias.