What is causality in psychology?

Causality in psychology often involves exploring causal relationships to explain why certain events or behaviors occur. According to Tania Lombrozo, causality is deeply intertwined with explanations but is not always causal. For instance, mathematical explanations, like the proof of the Pythagorean theorem, do not involve causality. In psychology, explanations often include understanding various types of dependency relationships, with causal dependencies being crucial for explaining many psychological phenomena. However, other types of relationships, such as deductive or entailment relations, can also underpin explanations 1.

For a comprehensive understanding, causality in psychology also integrates with experimental and observational studies to ascertain the nature of dependencies among variables. This helps in distinguishing between simple associations and causal relationships, thereby adding rigor and depth to psychological findings and theories 2.