What psychological concept is often suggested to explain why nurses and ER staff believe chaos spikes during a full moon?
Confirmation bias
The strong, pervasive belief held by many healthcare professionals, particularly in emergency services and nursing, that mental health crises and violence increase during a full moon is often attributed to confirmation bias. This psychological phenomenon suggests that staff members are more likely to remember and register the unusual, dramatic, or chaotic incidents that happen to coincide with a bright full moon, while simultaneously failing to recall or give equal weight to routine busy nights that occur without a full moon present. Objective data analysis across numerous studies frequently fails to find a statistically significant surge in actual incidents like crime rates or psychiatric admissions tied directly to the lunar cycle, reinforcing the idea that the perceived correlation is based on selective memory and pattern-seeking rather than objective causality.
