Which statement best reflects the idea that correlation does not imply causation?

• A. There may be third variables or reverse causality.
• B. A relationship between variables proves one causes the other.
• C. Correlation is always stronger than causation.
• D. Causation can be inferred from correlation alone.

Answer: (A)

Association does not imply causation. When two variables move together, it doesn’t prove that one causes the other. There could be a third factor influencing both, or the direction of influence might be opposite. For example, hot weather can increase both ice cream sales and the number of people swimming; the warm temperature is the reason they rise together, not that ice cream causes more swimming or vice versa. This distinction helps explain why you can see a relationship without proving one variable causes the other. The other ideas—that a relationship proves causation, that correlation is inherently stronger than causation, or that causation can be inferred from correlation alone—don’t hold because they skip the possibilities of confounding factors and reverse or bidirectional effects.