A high correlation between a child's behaviour (e.g., being aggressive) and that of her parents (e.g., spanking) indicates that
A)the child's aggression caused the spanking.
B)the spanking caused the aggression.
C)shared aggressive genes, a third factor, caused the child's aggression and the parents' spanking.
D)aggression and spanking are related, but correlations do not indicate causality.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Correlations do not indicate causality; therefore, we cannot determine if the child's aggression caused the spanking, if the spanking caused the aggression, or if shared aggressive genes caused both. However, we can conclude that there is a relationship between the two variables.

A High Correlation Between a Child's Behaviour (E