Psychology Help?

Question

Provide your interpretation of the relationship between the variables in the example


In the Good News Survey (GNS), it was found that people who reported having frequently eaten Frosted Flakes as children were half as likely to have cancer as people who never ate that cereal. Conversely, people who reported frequently eating oatmeal when they were children were four times more likely to develop cancer than those who did not eat oatmeal. (Frosted Flakes ---> less cancer, oatmeal ---> more cancer.) In a separate finding, the GNS reported that people who took vitamins as children were twice as likely to go on to use marijuana and cocaine.

Answer 1

Assuming that all the information collected was accurate, all these relationships are purely correlative ones. All we can say is that people who engage in one behaviour or another tend to be the same people who have one outcome or another.

It's important to note that we CANNOT say that any of these things CAUSE anything else. To prove causation we would have to develop a much stronger link.

For example, it may be that there is a cancer resistance gene near the gene for tasting sweetness, so that the connection between Frosted Flakes and cancer is due to some entirely different factor related to both. If we wanted to prove Frosted Flakes themselves have some kind of anti-cancer properties, we're going to have to do experiements which involve interfering with the natural environment a bit - say, prevent kids who want them from having Frosted Flakes and see if they get cancer, or give Frosted Flakes to children with a known genetic predisposition to cancer and see if that mediates the effect.

Answer 2

I call BULL-**** on that survey. Is this a manipulative marketing strategy by kellogs in order to up their sales? What a bunch of balderdash.

Answer 3

So? What?