A psychologist finds that most of the juvenile delinquents at the facility where he counsels have parents who are smokers. If he concludes that parental smoking is the reason for these teens' behavior and poor choices, then he has
A)made a sound conclusion based on scientific observation.
B)confused correlation and causation.
C)based his conclusion on unreliable sources of information.
D)confused observation and inference.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The psychologist has confused correlation (a relationship or connection between two variables) with causation (the action of causing something). Just because there is a correlation between parental smoking and juvenile delinquency in his observations does not mean one causes the other.

A Psychologist Finds That Most of the Juvenile Delinquents at the Facility