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people often tell us about associations between two variables which seems profound or important

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example: on radio, the more cheeseburgers one eats, the lower the chance that you'll dye of cancer

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eating a large amount of cheeseburgers increases the likelihood of dying of a heart attack, and if you die of a heart attack, you can't die of cancer.

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association in information can be enlightening but its important that the consumer of this information knows the limits

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the power of the marshmallow

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experiment was a series of studies in the 1970s in which children were offered a choice between one small reward (a marshmallow) provided immediately, or two small rewards if he or she waited until the experimenter returned after 15 minutes. In follow-up studies decades later, the researchers found that children who had been able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index, and other life measures.

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does it give you more answers or raise more questions?

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scatter plots and correlation

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tallness/attractive relationships

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18 year old women

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the taller, the more attractive they felt

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correlation can be strong (0.7) or weak (0)

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13 year old women

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the taller, the less attractive they felt

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correlation can be strong (-0.7) or weak (0)

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when there is no causation

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numerous studies show the taller you are, the more money you make

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are those who choose employees for higher-paid salaried positions more bias toward tall people?

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there are all sorts of factors that can cause two variables to be related