EVP: For Kicks and Giggles

Paranormal theories link paranormal events with changes in humidity, barometric pressure and/or changes in temperature, solar activity, seismic activity, as well as the phase of moon. Just for kicks and giggles, we will add these variables to our tracking. I will blow the dust off my statistics text and see if we can find any correlation to the formation of an EVP with changes in the above.

Before we go any farther, let’s take a look at causation versus correlation.

One of the errors I see most frequently in the press (yes, that includes paranormal TV) is confusion between causation and correlation. In theory, these are easy to tell apart. Causation is an action or occurrence can cause or produce an effect on another. A correlation implies a relationship between two or more things. This relationship can be in areas such as space or time. If one action causes another, then they are most certainly correlated. By the same token, just because two things occur together, such as same space or same time, does not mean that one caused the other, even if it seems to make sense.

Let’s take a rooster.

Day one: Rooster crows. The sun comes up.

Day two: Rooster crows. The sun comes up.

Day three: Rooster crows. The sun comes up.

Day four: Rooster crows. The sun comes up.

Day five: Rooster crows. The sun comes up.

Day six: The rooster dies before he crows. Will the sun still come up?

Yes, of course the sun will rise. The rooster’s crow is CORRELATED with the sun rise. The rooster’s crow was related to the sunrise in time. The rooster’s crow does not CAUSE the sun to rise.

I suspect that sport superstitions develop due to a similar misconception of correlation and causation. That lucky jersey is lucky because it was worn at the winning game (correlation)....somehow I don’t think there is any recorded case in which a jersey made the winning touchdown (causation).

Let’s keep the difference between causation and correlation fresh in our head as we move forward in paranormal investigation. Just because two things happen close together in time or space, does not mean that one causes the other.