Confirmation Bias: How Intelligent People Develop Totally Incorrect Beliefs
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The full moon is NOT linked to busier hospital emergency rooms or more births, a new study finds.
The belief that there might be a link is likely down to a bias in the way even intelligent people think called the confirmation bias.
Jean-Luc Margot, a UCLA professor of planetary astronomy, who carried out the study, said:
“Some nurses ascribe the apparent chaos to the moon, but dozens of studies show that the belief is unfounded.”
Despite the belief being remarkably common in hospitals, the study, published in the journal Nursing Research, found no evidence for it (Margot, 2015).
Similarly there’s NO evidence that the moon has any influence on:
- automobile accidents,
- hospital admissions,
- surgery outcomes,
- cancer survival rates,
- menstruation,
- births,
- birth complications,
- depression,
- violent behaviour,
- or even criminal activity.
The fact that intelligent people continue to believe in things like this is at least partly down to the ‘confirmation bias‘.
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