Cause and Effect

I'm sure by now you've seen the news of the weird:

A study by an Italian sexologist has found that couples who have a TV set in their bedroom have sex half as often as those who don't.

Of course, when the journalists get ahold of studies like this, they quickly do what the researchers cannot do -- draw a conclusion that confirms a cause and effect relationship:
Thinking of buying a TV for the bedroom? Think again -- it could ruin your sex life.

Now I can't find the study anywhere online, but if the researchers are worth anything, you will not find what the journalists printed in their report. Why? Because there may be absolutely NO relationship between the TV and sex. Heck, the study only reported that HAVING a TV reduced the sex life!

What if they never turned it on?

The reason this cause-effect relationship absolutely cannot be determined is because there are simply too many variables. Perhaps the reason the TV is there is because of the reduced sex life of the couples? Just because two things are found to have a relationship, a cause-effect cannot be concluded.

But I guess that's why the people reporting the story are reporters and not researchers.

Posted by: Ogre at 03:06 PM

Comments

1 "What if they never turned it on?"

Good point, obviously they weren't turning something on, thanks for making me smile this morning

Posted by: blue at January 17, 2006 03:21 PM (X5r/y)

2 A farmer walks into his bedroom with a sheep under his arm and says, "Darling, this is the pig I have sex with when you have a headache." His wife is lying in bed (WATCHING TV) and replies, "I think you'll find that's a sheep, you idiot." The man says, "I think you'll find I wasn't talking to you."

Sorry in advance Ogre, I just couldn't help it.

Posted by: Tomslick at January 17, 2006 03:37 PM (xNjHI)

3 Ah, more pseudoscience.

Never occurred to these people that OLDER people are going to be more likely to have the tv in the bedroom - they're richer than younger people, and more likely to have rooms big enough... not to say that oldsters don't get busy

I can't remember who said it, but correlation does not mean causality.

(*)>

Posted by: birdwoman at January 17, 2006 04:35 PM (vR7Sl)

4 LOL! You guys are great.

Thanks for stopping by!

Posted by: Ogre at January 17, 2006 07:25 PM (/k+l4)

5 Hey, I have a TV in my bedroom and it doesn't effect my sex life, we use it for porn!

Posted by: Contagion at January 17, 2006 10:23 PM (e8b4J)

6 I thought about that, but I just so wasn't going to go there!

Posted by: Ogre at January 17, 2006 11:01 PM (+Gl1m)

7 Contagion - I thought you used the video camera for porn? :-)

Posted by: Harvey at January 18, 2006 01:18 AM (ubhj8)

8 Well gee, he's got to see the results of his hard work, doesn't he?

Posted by: Ogre at January 18, 2006 01:24 AM (+Gl1m)

9 I suspect the only relationship between not having a TV in the bedroom and having more sex has to do with the personalities and values of people that would not want a TV in the bedroom, and not the actual presence of the TV itself.

Posted by: FIAR at January 18, 2006 02:40 AM (14Lib)

10 ANd that's the part the journalists don't get. It could be that people put TVs in their bedroom because they're not having sex.

Posted by: Ogre at January 18, 2006 12:55 PM (/k+l4)

11 People with a TV in the bedroom only have half as much sex (in the bedroom) because the other half of their sex is in the other rooms.

Posted by: Machelle at January 18, 2006 01:39 PM (ZAyoW)

12 Yes, that TV sure can be distracting, can't it?

Posted by: Ogre at January 18, 2006 01:57 PM (/k+l4)

13 Contagion stole my line . . . again!

Posted by: oddybobo at January 18, 2006 04:06 PM (6Gm0j)

14 Wow, I'm a little late to this one.

My wife sent me a link to this on Yahoo. I wondered the same thing, since we have a TV in our bedroom. The only time it has been turned on was when we were painting the walls in the bedroom and wanted to have something to listen to.

Posted by: Echo Zoe at January 18, 2006 08:25 PM (K+h36)

15 Oddy, did you say something about being in Contagion's porn movies?

Posted by: Ogre at January 18, 2006 10:31 PM (+Gl1m)






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