A kind of "magical thinking," frequently responsible for superstitious behaviors, in which events that occur close together in time are erroneously construed by a person to be causally linked is called:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Parataxic reasoning is a cognitive distortion in which unrelated events are linked together and interpreted as having a causal relationship because they occurred close together in time. This type of reasoning can lead to superstitious beliefs and behaviors. The other answer choices (A: Barnum effect, C: dichotomous variable, D: uncertainty avoidance, E: self-fulfilling prophecy) do not accurately describe this cognitive distortion.

A Kind of "Magical Thinking," Frequently Responsible for Superstitious Behaviors