I am sure that you all have heard people use a full moon to explain weird behavior. So is this an energy that we are unfimiliar with or is it some type of exuse that has been passed down by people for years?

Well if you look at it scientifically what is happening is light is being reflected off of the moon from the sun which is out of view. Over a course of days the amount of light lessens as the earth begins to block out the suns light to the moon. My question is what is the difference between the day of the full moon and the day after. This should have no effect on the way humans behave. Although the moon as we know can change the effects of the sea. It has also been said while in a full moon it can even help the health of plants with the extra little light over the course of the days in which the moon shines its brightest.

Some people believe that there is an energy that effects people without knowing it. Like crime rates or the behavior of infants or even animals. My mother worked at a nursing home as a teen just as I do know. She is convinced that the old folks use to act-up and scream and throw stuff during a full moon. As for me I have not experienced this. I don't intend to either. I mean if you really look at it it doesn't make sense.

Take a look at this article. It goes through why most people believe the full moon folklore.

http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html (first thing I found on google search that actually sounded intelligent)

I love how it touches on the misconceptions of moons gravitational pull on the ocean let alone the human body. It says

For me, I am a nonbeliever in the full moon effects. I am just interested in how much of you are.

so let me know if you do or don't believe that the moon can play a role in the behavior of humans

 

 

 

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To me it just doesn't make any sense. All that happens during a full moon is light bounces off the Moon towards the Earth, as you quite rightly say. Exactly the same is happening when any part of the Moon is visible though, there just happens to be less light reaching the Moon, and therefore less reaching the Earth. I would say the main reason people believe the Moon can affect all sorts of weird unconnected things is the first point made in the page you link to: the media. The media are incredibly powerful, and as long as they keep mentioning these things then people will believe them. Even on April Fool's Day, when the media reported spaghetti grew on trees, people believed it.


I would have thought that effect would be incredibly minute. Yes, the Moon gives plants a very slight amount of extra light, but nothing compared to what the Sun contributes to the planet. The moonlight at night surely wouldn't be enough for the plants to photosynthesise anyway.

The Moon has about one ten-millionth of the effect the Earth's gravity has on us, so any effect it does have would be minimal. So, I certainly don't believe the various myths about changes in behaviour and other activities during a full moon.

 

 

 

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Certainly, I doubt that the effect is that great because it is very little light. But i have always heard this and i have always thought that it probably wasn't enough to help alot. but then i saw it in the article so i thought i might throw it in there.

That article was exactly what i was looking for. something that goes over everything that people believe to be true and why they are not.

The reason why i wrote this topic is because me and my mom got into a debate over the effects of the full moon. she tried to tell me that there are forces that we are unfamiliar with and the moon carries a force that is able to change the actions and behavior of people.

she practically said everything that was proven wrong on that list in the article. she mentioned that more deaths, murders, suicides, and rapes happen during a full moon. she also said that because we are mostly made of water that the moon would have a great pull on our body( but if it had such a pull on our body wouldn't be happening all the time. what does it being lit up have anything to do with it.)

she would not let me convene her other0wise. she says she has experienced it. nothing is going to change her mind of what she thinks happens during a full moon.

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This topic is pretty similar to a thread started here. However, I'll share some of my ideas that I didn't propose in the other thread.
While the moon may not have a scientific, gravitational force over us, it may still influence us in ways that may not be explained by a scientific nature. Perhaps it is the belief that the moon does have influence over us that makes us act this way, but I think that there are other forces at work as well. In the early ages of man, humans feared the darkness of night. They were vulnerable to attack because our eyes aren't made to see well in the dark like other predatory animals. Only by the light of the moon could people wander at night. When the moon was full, it was enough light to hunt animals that would be difficult to catch during the day, and people celebrated the hunters return with carnal festivities of food and pleasure. While these practices have ceased and long been forgotten, the instinct remains embedded in some people and manifests itself in different ways. The full moon shines and people release their inhibitions and celebrate. The hunter instinct rises, and there are more accidents by reckless drivers or drunken brawls between men over a woman. People eat or drink more, or they feel the urge to... mate and procreate.

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I know that the moon has been a definite influence on humans(but not in a manner that cannot be explained). but i am wondering if the members of t17 actually believe the nonsense that people and media have passed down over the years.

It is just silly to say that the moon plays a big role in how we act while in its brightest point. I have heard people say that even if you are unaware of the moons cycles it will still effect you. like with my mother working at the nursing home. those old folks did not know that the moon was full yet she says they were in weird behavior anyway.

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Obviously, you learned stubbornness from your mother. I have given you an anthropological reason why humans act differently rather than one based on the scientific theory of gravitational influence, yet you refuse to even acknowledge it as a possibility. Although it seems futile to debate since you seem fixed in your opinion, I will offer another point of discussion for the sake of others.
The moon's cycle is much more constant and predictable than the solar cycle no matter what Shakespeare's Juliet says. It runs for 28 days from new moon to new moon. For the greater part of human evolution, this was the only calendar they could depend on. Women's menstrual cycles would coincide with the lunar cycle and the full moon was considered the most potent time of conception. Our bodies adjusted accordingly and produced more testosterone and estrogen during the full moon. As technology evolved, many women started getting out of sync with nature and their menstrual cycles don't run with the lunar cycle. However, the biological knowledge could be inscribed in our DNA.

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Tiki's Anthropological Reason:



What i am saying is I don't think there is any different behavior in humans at all. Sure this would be the most logical reason why people act the way they do during a full moon. but they don't. they don't act-up and go crazy. statistics have already shown that people are the same throughout the cycles of the moon. IF you refer to the study taken in the article i posted. it even showed there were more recorded incidents on the days which had not had a full moon.

My stubbornness has nothing to do with what i believe now. If this were true i guess i could say the same thing about anyone who didn't agree with what i had to say. my mom was being stubborn because she refused to see the facts. she said that the moon had a pull on us and caused us to act different. And when i gave her hard scientific evidence she still didn't change her mind.

Me choosing not to agree with your reason of why people act different does not make me stubborn. because i think that people do not act different at all. but i will say that is the best defense of why people would act different.

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Seems highly unnecessary to block quote my post when it's only 3 up.
Anyways, you're absolutely right. Everything posted on a website must be fact. They've even got statistics. That means they are completely infallible.
Don't knock someone else's belief simply because you don't believe it. Calling someone's beliefs silly while emphasizing your own is hypocritical. Speaking of, you might want to take another look at the quote you've got on your sig...

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although i love the sarcasm, i think it is a little unneeded. seems how you are still not understanding the point i am trying to make.

i am saying that i don't think people act crazy at all. and you keep replying with a reason for why they would. don't get me wrong, that is the best reason i have heard but had nothing to do with what i was getting at. and as far as the sig that i have...... even if i cannot prove fully that the moon doesn't make us act in any different manner, i can still say that i choose not to believe. me saying it is silly doesn't mean i am just throwing out all other possibilities. that is just my belief. even if i don't except someone else's opinion to be true doesn't mean i am not considering it or haven't considered it.

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That sounds to me like you are ridiculing others for believing in the "nonsense that people and media have passed down over the years." As someone stated on the other moon thread, the full moon may influence how we act simply because we believe in it. Or there may be some undiscovered scientific connection. Or the whole thing could be some anthropological, biological throw back to a different time or age. There are as many reasons to believe as there are not to believe. I'm sure you had your own preconceptions about this theory even before you looked up your source, which simply reinforced those beliefs. My point about your sig is to note that even though there may not be scientific proof, there are those of us who still choose to believe in the moon's influence despite the "absence of evidence." It will be a sad, sad world when people believe only in science and fact and lose their faith, beliefs, ideas and imagination. Possibility is what inspires us beyond the mundane.


You asked whether other Trappers believe that the moon can play a role in the behavior of humans. Seems like a pretty direct question. It would be spam to just say, "Yes, I do." So I give you reasons why people may act differently during the full moon that are not addressed in the website you sourced. Just offering another side to the discussion. I mean how boring would this thread be if everyone just agreed with you. It would make life so much easier, but quite boring.
I would like to point out, though, that you stated that you "have not experienced this" and you "don't intend to either." You said in the shoutbox that you work in a nursing home, just like your mother did. So by saying that you don't inted to experience the things she said, that means you're basically closing yourself off to the possibility of it happening. Since you can't control how the patients at the nursing home act, it seems more likely that you will attribute those actions to something else rather than thinking that it might be caused by the full moon. And it's perfectly fine for you to believe in what you believe and defend it as you will. I just think you shouldn't go around saying that other people's beliefs are silly or nonsense, that's all.

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