Principlev1PR-195
Test causal hypotheses about personal patterns through…
Test causal hypotheses about personal patterns through deliberate experimental manipulation—systematically varying the proposed cause while holding other factors constant—rather than relying on observational correlation alone.
Why This Is a Principle
This derives from Automatic Narrative Generation Precedes Conscious Evaluation (automatic causal narratives), Patterns Exist in Hierarchical Logical Levels (hierarchical patterns), and Belief Perseverance Against Contradictory Evidence (belief perseverance). The principle prescribes experimental intervention to distinguish causation from correlation, following from axioms about how the brain generates premature causal stories.