Chapter 10: Are There Rival Causes?
Chapter Topics
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Introduction
When to Look for Rival Causes
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes
Detecting Rival Causes
The Cause or A Cause
Rival Causes and Scientific Research
Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups
Confusing Causation with Association
Confusing “After This” with “Because of This”
Explaining Individual Events or Acts
Evaluating Rival Causes
Using This Critical Question
Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking
Summary
Practice Exercises
General Teaching Comments
This chapter has both a critical and creative dimension to it. First, searching for rival
causes provides a check against accepting the interpretation of what facts mean. Second,
the search initially requires the generation of causes that were not provided. You can
emphasize with the students that even the best experts miss rival causes, and inferring the
wrong causes can have dramatic effects on societal actions. Good contemporary
examples are searches for the causes of recent increased global temperatures and causes
of disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.
Searching for rival causes is a difficult task, requiring much creative thinking from the
student. Thus, for this chapter, you will find it useful to provide students opportunities for
“brainstorming.”
A good way to get students interested in the concept of rival causes is to relate this
critical thinking to their own lives. For example, you can have them consider recent times
in which someone has behaved in a negative way toward them, such as not showing up
for a date, or getting unduly angry at them, and then have them state their hypothesis of
why the person acted that way. Other students in the class can then offer possible
alternative causes for the same behavior. Students can then discuss how thinking about
different causes leads to different feelings about the negative act.
An excellent source for exercises to provide students with practice in identifying rival
causes in research settings is Huck and Sandler’s text Rival Hypotheses: Alternative
Interpretations of Data Based Conclusions. These authors present one- to two-page
summaries of social science research, which gives students enough information about the
research to enable them to determine rival causes. In addition, the book’s appendix
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provides a summary of 20 categories of rival causes, many of which overlap with those
categories mentioned in ARQWR. This text is most helpful when ARQWR is being used
as a supplemental text in a course in the social or physical sciences.
Because “cause” is such a complex concept, discussing its meaning with students is
essential. Having them discuss reasons why it has been relatively easy to establish
contributory causes for some events (e.g., crop growth caused by fertilizer) but difficult
to establish contributory causes for other events (e.g., eating disorder behavior caused by
early childhood experiences) sensitizes them to difficulties inherent in sorting out rival
causes for the latter type of event.
A common task to help students practice the “What are rival causes?” question is to
expose them to data that show a relationship between two variables and to try to
determine rival causes. Much popular press coverage of research about causes of
behavior includes a report of such relationships. Students will usually find it easiest to
think of different possible causes for the dependent variable without considering how
well the causes account for the relationship found between the two variables.
For example, if students were to read about a study correlating perfectionist tendencies
with depression to prove that perfectionism was an important cause of depression, they
might simply list other possible causes of depression as rival causes, such as stress or a
biochemical imbalance. Instead they should be trying to find causes to explain the
ASSOCIATION between perfectionism and depression. They need to be reminded to ask
the questions, “How does my hypothetical rival cause explain, or account for, the
relationship found between X and Y?” or “How is that cause consistent with the
researcher’s data?”
To facilitate student brainstorming of causes of human behavior, we have found it useful
to provide students with the following short classification of kinds of causes: biological,
psychological, sociological, and cultural, reminding them that ALL of these might be
causal influences for many behaviors. Also, an attention-grabbing reminder of the
pervasiveness of rival causes is a song by folksinger Cheryl Wheeler, entitled “If It Were
Up To Me,” from the album Sylvia Hotel. The powerful lyrics address possible causes of
the dramatic increase in violence among children and are available at
http://www.cherylwheeler.com/songs/iiwutm.html. Also, a video is available on
YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR8ds7UHxeE.
Another exercise that is both fun for students and helpful in thinking about rival causes as
they relate to claims of special predictive powers is the strange case of Oscar, The Death
Predicting Cat. Students can find a description of Oscar’s predictive powers as well as a
discussion of some rival causes at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/25/health/webmd/main3097899.shtmlC:\Docu
ments and Settings\Owner\conv_1281127694-674. Students can then be asked to
generate many rival causes for Oscar’s behavior and then to contemplate possible
analogous predicting situations in which individuals are supposed to have special
predictive powers.
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Discussion Questions
➢ What are some good clues for recognizing that a questionable causal claim has
been made?
➢ What factors influence the kinds of causes we think of when we try to understand
the causes of people’s behaviors?
➢ Events can go together or be associated for a variety of reasons. Explain four
ways that events X and Y might be related.
➢ If someone claims that X is a cause of Y, does that mean that every time Y
occurs, then X will have caused it? Explain. Does that mean that every time that
X occurs, then Y will occur? Explain.
Assignments
Require students to:
1. Maintain a notebook of events in the newspapers, such as economic trends, outcomes
of sporting events (e.g., winning streak by team, major upset), or other newsworthy
events (e.g., science and health reports) that are accompanied by causal explanations,
then note both the given explanation and plausible competing explanations that they
can generate.
2. List causal explanations of some event of interest from a chapter or section in one of
their textbooks, then generate rival hypotheses to explain the same event. This
assignment can be expanded by asking them to discuss which cause, or combination
of causes, they believe is the most likely one and why they think that’s the case.
3. Interview each other about what they believe to be the major causes of some
contemporary event and what evidence they would use to support that belief. The
interviewer can then try to generate rival causes consistent with the evidence.
4. Choose one of their own behaviors or traits, such as getting angry easily, being
compulsive, or not being athletic, and write an essay suggesting possible causes for
the behavior or trait. This assignment can act as a stimulant for diverse kinds of class
discussion.
For example, students can reflect on the question of whether it’s reasonable to expect
any behavior or trait to have the same general cause for ALL persons; and if it’s not,
what the limitations are of asking the question, “What is THE cause of various human
behaviors?”
You could also have students reflect on the different perspectives they used in
deciding on important causes. Did they focus on biological, psychological, or sociocultural causes?
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Writing Exercises
Extra Exercise:
A new 10-year follow-up study of nearly 7,000 men and women in California
showed that skipping breakfast is among seven health risks that increase
your chances of an early death. The study, by the University of California at
Los Angeles Center for Health Sciences, found that death rates were 40
percent higher for men and 28percent higher for women who “rarely or
sometimes” ate breakfast, compared with those who ate breakfast “almost
every day.”
A previous 10-year study conducted by the University of Iowa Medical
College showed that eating a nutritious breakfast was associated with
better physical and mental performance among children and adults.
In particular, the study revealed that those who ate breakfast were more
productive during the late morning. They also had a faster reaction time
(which may mean fewer accidents) and a less muscular figure than those
who skipped breakfast. Children who had no breakfast were more likely to
be listless and have trouble concentrating.
Conclusion: Skipping breakfast increases your chances of an early death.
Reasons:
1. A study found that death rates were 40 percent higher for men and 28 percent
higher for women who “rarely or sometimes ate breakfast” compared with those
who ate breakfast almost every day.
2. Another study showed that eating a nutritious breakfast was associated with a
better physical and mental performance among children and adults.
In reason number one the researcher has compared groups, but she has failed to
provide important controls to eliminate a number of rival causes. The major question
one needs to ask here is, “Did the breakfast eaters and non-eaters differ from one
another in significant ways that might have accounted for the differences found?” For
example, it is quite possible that people who don’t eat breakfast tend to have bad selfcare habits in general, such that they eat non-nutritious foods all day long, smoke a
lot, and get little exercise. Without knowing whether the groups differ significantly, it
is impossible to draw a causal generalization. Reason number two suffers from the
same difficulties as reason one.
One rival cause is that people with a genetic predisposition for long life also have
biological make-ups that stimulate appetite after sleep. The direction of causation is
always one concern that careful hypothesis formation must attempt to nail down.
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One additional rival cause involves the nutritional composition of typical breakfasts.
It may not be breakfast that is having the projected effect. Instead, it could be the
vitamin, mineral, and fiber content of typical breakfasts. Perhaps the identical
nutrients eaten as a bedtime snack would have the alleged positive benefits attributed
to breakfast.
ARQWR Practice Exercise 3
According to a recent study, one of the major causes of violence in schools
is listening to aggressive heavy metal music. Researches studied more
than 100 cases of “serious” violence within schools and found that 68
percent of the children involved in the violence listened to heavy metal
music. These children would frequently come to school with headphones,
listening to this music, as well as wearing clothing from heavy metal
bands. Frequently, these heavy metal songs discuss violence, and
therefore are a direct cause of school violence.
Analysis:
Conclusion: A major cause of violence in schools is listening to aggressive heavy
metal music.
Reason: Research on more than 100 cases of serious violence within schools found
that 68 percent of the children involved in violence listened to heavy metal music.
First, we don’t know how biased this sample is. The sample size is fairly large, which
is good; but is it random and does it have much breadth? The results, for example,
may reflect a bias due to the kind of school settings studied.
Second, as with most research testing causal conclusions, the omission of relevant
comparison groups is a major defect. For example, if we studied 100 cases of students
who had NOT been involved in serious violent acts, how many of those might have
listened to heavy metal music? Maybe many students in the schools studied tend to be
heavy metal listeners. A relevant comparison question is what percentage of children
who listen to heavy metal music versus children who don’t listen to heavy metal
music engage in violent acts.
Even if one could demonstrate an ASSOCIATION between listening to heavy metal
and committing violent acts by using appropriate comparison groups, however, that
would not by itself support a causal link. Many rival causes could account for this
relationship. For example, we could ask, “What common factors might cause
individuals to both listen to heavy metal music and to act violently?” Many rival
causes come to mind, such as belonging to socially deviant peer groups, having
problems with authority, a tendency to be stimulus seekers, and others.
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Note: With examples like the above, it is important to remind your students that the
fact that SOME students who listen to heavy metal music don’t act violently does not
prove that such listening is not a cause of violence.
#Connection of Interest. Placebo as rival cause. “Placebo Nation: Just Believe,” from
Newsweek, March 17, 2008, by Sharon Begley. Also, see
http://www.newsweek.com/id/120094. For other interesting related article, see
“Placebo Effect: Why we need less research on alternative medicine, not more,” by R.
Barker Bausell, from Chronicle of Higher Education, March 14, 2008 issue. Shows
how failure to consider placebo effect influences conclusions about effects of
alternative medicines.
#Connection of Interest. Rival causes for happiness. From New York Times, April 16,
2008, “Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All,” by David Leonhardt.
Interesting discussion of ongoing problem of attempts to show causal link between
money and happiness. Also see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16leonhardt.html
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