Spurious relationship

Graphical model: Whereas a mediator is a factor in the causal chain (top), a confounder is a spurious factor incorrectly implying causation (bottom)

In statistics, a spurious relationship or spurious correlation[1][2] is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor (referred to as a "common response variable", "confounding factor", or "lurking variable").

  1. ^ Burns, William C., "Spurious Correlations", 1997.
  2. ^ Pearl, Judea. "UCLA 81st Faculty Research Lecture Series". singapore.cs.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-10.