One of the things that gets misinterpreted by a lot of people is the difference between correlation and causation. It is difficult to prove that one thingcausesanother thing. It is much easier to show a general relationship between things. Because the word CAUSE carries a very specific definition in the research world, we have to be careful not to use it in our writing unless the relationship we're referring to meets the criteria to use that word.

Think about the following and discuss your thoughts involving correlation and causation.

A lot of people have noticed a pattern among criminal cases where people who are violent to others often have a history of head trauma occurring prior to their first known incident of violence. At what point should we say that head trauma causes certain types of behaviors?