In critical thinking, which term means the result of causes?

• A. Effect
• B. Cause
• C. Hypothesis
• D. Correlation

Answer: (A)

In thinking about how events are connected, the focus is on what happens as a consequence of other factors. The term that names that outcome is the effect—the result produced by the causes. For instance, if heavy rain is the reason a river swells, the swelling is the effect. The cause is the rain, the effect is the consequence.

This helps distinguish from other ideas: a cause is the reason something happens, not the result. A hypothesis is a testable statement you might try to verify. Correlation describes a relationship where two things vary together, but it doesn’t by itself show which one causes the other.