Sociology / Unit 2 Soc 0177 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Correlation Proves Causation"
Captions available
The idea
Two factors varying together does not establish that either causes the other, because a third factor may drive both, or the causal arrow may point the other way.
In practice
Ice cream sales and drownings rise together; heat raises both, and neither causes the other.
Where people slip
This is the commonest misreading of social data, and the most confidently made.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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