Psychology / Unit 1 Psych 0076 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Third-Variable Problem
Captions available
The idea
The third-variable problem arises when an unmeasured variable produces the relationship observed between two measured variables.
In practice
Summer heat drives both ice cream sales and swimming, and swimming drives the drownings.
Where people slip
Finding one third variable does not clear the field. There is no procedure that proves no others remain.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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