You have noticed that as people eat more ice cream they also have darker suntans. From this observation, you conclude _______.
A) eating ice cream causes people to tan darker
B) when one's skin tans it causes an urge to eat ice cream
C) the results were spurious
D) perhaps a third variable is responsible for the correlation
E) all of these are possible

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The observation that as people eat more ice cream they also have darker suntans does not directly imply causation between the two variables. It could be that eating ice cream causes people to tan darker, that tanning causes an urge to eat ice cream, that the correlation is coincidental (spurious), or that there is a third variable influencing both (such as warmer weather leading to both more ice cream consumption and more sun exposure). Therefore, all of these explanations are possible based on the given information.

You Have Noticed That as People Eat More Ice Cream