Causation - Correlation

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• jdawg113 Alum Inactive ⭐

  February 2015 2654 karma

  if the stimulus mentions 2 things are correlated (or more subtly A happens when B happens) it should automatically cause you to expect them to continue and say one caused the other, and often they will
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  emli1000 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  February 2015 3462 karma

  Thanks!
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  clarissa.h Alum Member

  February 2015 50 karma

  Also, remember to use linguistic triggers to help spot an ACTUAL clearly defined relationship as opposed to language that merely indicates two things tend to be observed together.
  
  As a very general rule of thumb, when I see an absence of formal lawgic language (if/then, must, unless, etc.), the possibility of causation figures into my mind.
  
  Another hint might be some observed phenomenon. i.e., that the seal population in X region has been steadily decreasing over the past ten years, and ten years ago an endangered species of fish was introduced into the same region.
  
  So the test writers could take this sort of question into a whole number of different possible directions. Maybe it will be an RRE question, and they'll add some fact that makes you think this phenomenon is strange (i.e., the seals diet consists only of fish) - and the right answer choice might say something like this endangered species of fish contained a hormone that disturbs the reproductive system of seals, causing them to reproduce at a slower rate.
  
  Or, instead, they could go on to say that the fish species introduced feeds on the same seaweed that composes the seals primary food source - and then conclude that the fish must be the cause of the decreasing seal population (i.e. new equilibrium being established as the environment now includes competition for the same food source).
  
  Now, from there they could go a number of different ways - ask you to weaken/strengthen, ask you to know what would be valuable information to know to evaluate the argument (i.e., it would be helpful to know if the seaweed supply has remained constant or if it was supplemented when the fish were introduced as a preemptive measure)....
  
  The point is, as soon as I read enough to see that I have at least two indicators for causation, my causation radar has gone up. I'm not so committed to it that I'll ignore new information, because they may change gears and introduce some formal if/then relationship. (seems unlikely, tho; but I'm sure it's happened, and a master of the skills this exam tests would be ready for a curveball like that, anyway) Until you get to the stimulus and actually know what they're asking you to do, just pay attention and notice whatever you notice (oh, this kinda sounds like causation, but let me keep reading... / oh, this looks like one of those part/whole issues... or oh, now they're talking in terms of percent but at the beginning, they were talking in terms of total number... maybe they're going to ask me to pick up on that...).
  
  Always finish reading the stem, because you don't want to get fooled by a red herring. They don't necessarily have to test you on every single thing worth noticing about the stem.
  
  Relinquish a need for control and just be a perceptive reader, passively awaiting the signals which will naturally remind you of questions you've looked at that were similar in the past (after enough cause, vs. enough formal lawgic, whether you can articulate the differences very well or not, I believe you'll have a know-it-when-you-see-it familiarity with the distinction). Just, let it happen.
  
  Hope this helps!
  
  
• 1 Like

  jdawg113 Alum Inactive ⭐

  February 2015 2654 karma

  Idk if I agree with the whole if/then thing since that generally (ya maybe not always but ya) causation, and doesn't have the correlation/causation flaw (tho there is the possibility its a weaken question and an AC could say the argument is only correlated)
  
  As for the seals, yeah, when who ideas that are slightly separated are included (generally some assumption question so you're going to be looking for a gap and how to block/fill it) a causation/correlation AC is def a possible answer to look for, though this is where the question stem comes in handy. If you are looking for a strengthen answer you may want to keep causation in your head bc an AC that gives us causation will probably strengthen that (depending on the question/stim of course) and same with weaken, say well theres no causation, they're actually just correlated and something separate causes both, etc. (again, situations could be reversed depending on wording of stim and stem)
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  blah170blah Alum Inactive ⭐

  February 2015 3545 karma

  @emli1000 It sounds like you're moving to the answer choices without really understanding the argument. I would highly recommending doing some assumption family question types (particularly strengthen, weaken, and flaw questions). In particular, I'd recommend trying to read the stimulus and then really think about what the stimulus is saying before you move to the answer choices. I would spend a lot of time first:
  1) Looking for language that indicates a causal relationship (because x, then y; since a, then b; c requires d; etc) and then write that out next to the stimulus.
  
  2) If you don't see a causal relationship, map out the argument. Identify the conclusion, and then figure out why the author believes the conclusion to be (premises).
  
  ONLY move to the answer choices if you can prove to yourself on the paper in front of you that you really understand the argument.
  
  It might take a while in the beginning but, once you get into the habit of writing out what is going on in the stimulus, your intuition will catch on such that it will become second nature for you to do it on the test. Going straight to the answer choices without really understanding the stimulus will definitely hurt you when you get to harder answer choices, and will probably be even more time consuming since you'll wind up having to read the stimulus twice.
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  emli1000 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  February 2015 3462 karma

  Thanks everyone for your advice!