14.11: Glossary

causal claim A claim that asserts or denies the existence of a causal connection between two things, such as events, people, states, or between two types of things. A causal claim indicates that the connection is more than a mere accidental one. The standard form of a causal claim is: C causes E, where C is the cause and E is the effect. A causal claim is also called a cause-effect claim or a causal statement.

causal generalization A generalization that makes a causal claim. Causal generalizations assert causal connections between kinds of things rather than between specific things. The standard form is: (All, most, many) events of kind C cause events of kind E.

causal indicator A term that signals the presence of a causal claim. Examples: produces, cures, makes, triggers.

cause-effect claim A causal claim.

contributing cause One among many causes. The contributing cause that is most important for our present purposes we call the cause. A contributing cause is also called a contributing factor or partial cause.

control group In a controlled experiment, the group that does not receive the cause that is suspected of leading to the effect of interest.

correlation An association. Finding a correlation between two variables A and B is a clue that there may be some causal story to uncover, such as that A is causing B. Characteristics A and B are correlated if the percentages of A's among the B's is not the same as the percentages of A’s among the not-B's.

determinate cause A cause that will make its effect happen every time under known proper conditions.

directly proportional A perfect positive straight-line correlation between two variables.

experimental group In a controlled experiment, the group that receives the suspected cause of the effect being studied. Sometimes called the “treatment group.”

inversely proportional Characteristic of a perfect negative straight-line correlation between two variables.

negative correlation A relationship that exists when variable A tends to increase when B decreases, and vice versa. Characteristic A is negatively correlated with characteristic B in a given population whenever the percentage As among the Bs is less than the percentage of As among the not-Bs.

no correlation A lack of relation between two variables. Characteristics A and B are uncorrelated if the percentages of A's among the B's is the same as among the not-B's.

perfect correlation A relationship that exists when two variables always change together. That is, both may increase together or both may decrease together.

positive correlation A relationship between A and B that exists when variable A tends to increase when B increases and vice versa. Characteristic A is positively correlated with characteristic B in a given population whenever the percentage of A's among the B's is greater than the percentage A's among the not-B's.

post hoc fallacy The mistake of supposing that A caused B when the only evidence is that A is followed by B a few times.

probable cause A cause that will make the effect happen occasionally. When a probable cause occurs, the effect is probable but not certain.

specific causal claim A causal claim that asserts a specific claim rather than a general claim.

spurious association An association between A and B that results not because A is causing B or B is causing A but instead because some lurking factor C is causing A and B to be associated.

strength of the correlation A measure of how well two things are correlated. As a rule of thumb, the strength of the correlation between characteristics A and B is proportional to the difference between the percentage of B's that are A and the percentage of B's that are not-A.

treatment group The experimental group in an experiment involving treatment with a drug.

uncorrelated A lack of correlation between two variables.