Sitting in the park one sunny day, Chaim notices that people who are walking dogs smile at him more often than people without dogs. Chaim concludes that owning dogs makes people happier. Based on the principles of psychological research there are many problems with Chaim's conclusion. What is the biggest problem?
A)just because someone is walking a dog doesn't mean the person owns that dog
B)chaim did not observe people with cats before coming to his conclusion
C)correlation does not prove causation; the association may be spurious
D)Chaim did not operationalize dogs
E)just because someone owns a dog doesn't mean that they walk it themselves

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The biggest problem with Chaim's conclusion is that correlation does not prove causation. Just because two variables are associated (in this case, walking a dog and smiling) does not mean that one causes the other. There could be other factors at play or the relationship could be coincidental.

Sitting in the Park One Sunny Day, Chaim Notices That