{"id":37104,"date":"2021-05-29T11:58:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T15:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=37104"},"modified":"2026-04-06T22:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:53:20","slug":"epiphenomena-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What&#8217;s the definition of epiphenomena? Does it explain the difference between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/correlation-doesnt-equal-causation\/\">causation and correlation<\/a> or cause and effect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Epiphenomena by definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. While there is such a thing as cause and effect, people often create links between events when there are none, or believe that correlation is the same as causation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about epiphenomena, its definition, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-epiphenomena-definition-confusing-cause-and-effect\"><strong>Epiphenomena Definition: Confusing Cause and Effect<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another common mistake that intelligent people make is falling victim to <em>epiphenomena<\/em>\u2014the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. <strong>In other words, the epiphenomena definition comes down to confusing correlation for causation. <\/strong>For example, if you knew nothing about ships, you might come to the conclusion that the ship\u2019s compass is directing it rather than simply telling which direction it\u2019s going.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One epiphenomenon that pervades modern life is the belief that greed causes economic crises. Intelligent people note that economic depressions and extreme wealth inequality are often seen together, and they conclude that people hoarding money is the reason for the depression. This leads to the conclusion that greed is a new problem, and that if we could eliminate it, then our economies would be stable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>However, greed goes much further back in history than our current fragile economic systems. <\/strong>We see greed mentioned in texts from more than two millennia ago: The ancient Roman poet Virgil talked about <em>greed of gold<\/em>, and the Latin version of the New Testament warns that greed is the root of evil\u2014<em>radix malorum est cupiditas.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In all the time since, nobody\u2019s found the cure for human greed. The much simpler and more practical approach is to build systems that won\u2019t be destroyed by it. <strong>Remember that one major cause of fragility in a system is size; our economic systems today are gargantuan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/complicated-system\/\">complex systems<\/a> that are terribly fragile as a result.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-separating-correlation-from-causation\"><strong>Separating Correlation From Causation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The simplest way to debunk epiphenomena is to look at sequences of events, and check whether one always comes before the other. If so, you still can\u2019t positively conclude that one causes the other\u2014however, if the pattern doesn\u2019t hold, you can prove that one <em>doesn\u2019t <\/em>cause the other.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One place to look carefully for such patterns is in academia\u2014and specifically when academic theories are used to run the real world.<\/strong> There\u2019s an old joke about a Harvard professor who lectured birds about how to fly, and he was convinced that his brilliant teaching was why they were so good at it. That\u2019s clearly ridiculous, but people often credit scientists and mathematicians for systems that worked perfectly well without them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, the mathematician Michael Atiyah, best known for his work on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/string-theory-explained\/\">string theory<\/a>, once came to New York on a fundraising mission. He made a speech listing numerous ways that math had been usefully applied to the real world, such as in traffic signals. Notably absent from his speech, however, were times when mathematics had caused immense harm, such as grim <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/economic-forecasting-methods\/\">economic forecasts<\/a> leading to self-fulfilling panics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A side note: The kind of cherry-picking that Atiyah used in his speech is yet another example of options leading to antifragility. The one doing the picking gets to choose which facts to include and which to leave out. The wider the spread of facts is\u2014in other words, the more options there are\u2014the better (or worse) the cherry-picker can make the situation look. The cherry-picker\u2019s story becomes stronger thanks to the randomness of the information he can choose from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s the definition of epiphenomena? Does it explain the difference between causation and correlation or cause and effect? Epiphenomena by definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. While there is such a thing as cause and effect, people often create links between events when there are none, or believe that correlation is the same as causation. Read more about epiphenomena, its definition, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,15],"tags":[295],"class_list":["post-37104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-education","tag-antifragile","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1658\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Antifragile\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\",\"name\":\"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1658},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More - Shortform Books","description":"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More","og_description":"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1658,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More","datePublished":"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/"},"wordCount":608,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Antifragile"],"articleSection":["Communication","Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/","name":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-29T15:58:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-07T02:53:20+00:00","description":"The epiphenomena definition is the incorrect belief that one thing causes another. As humans, we make a lot of these false connections.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1658},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/epiphenomena-definition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Epiphenomena: Definition, Examples, and More"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/the-bird-unrbroken-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37104"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148250,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104\/revisions\/148250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}