Question

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 people who own dogs are happier than those who do not own dogs. based on the principles of psychological research, what is the biggest problem with chaim's conclusion?

Answer 1

The problem with Chaim's conclusion is that "correlation does not prove causation; the association may be spurious".

That "correlation proves causation," is viewed as a flawed reason logical paradox when two occasions happening together are taken to have set up a cause and effect relationship. This fallacy is otherwise called c*m hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for "with this, in this manner along these lines," and "false reason."