Free Practice Quiz Question List

4 Causation and the Structure of Events Online Quiz Questions

Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 4 Causation and the Structure of Events, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.

20 questions

True or false

1 point

A falling barometer reading predicts a storm. According to the material, does that prediction alone show that the barometer reading causes the storm?

A
True
B
False

Choose one

1 point

A match is struck near dry leaves, which then catch fire. Which claim best fits the account of causes and background conditions?

A
The striking can be a cause of the fire against a background that includes fuel and oxygen.
B
The striking must be the fire’s sole cause and must be sufficient by itself.
C
Fuel and oxygen cannot matter because they are background conditions.
D
If the fire occurred, the striking must have been both necessary and sufficient.

Fill in the blank

1 point

connect causation with patterns in which events of one kind are regularly followed by events of another kind.

Written response

1 point

What kind of causal account asks whether an effect would have occurred if the candidate cause had not?

Choose one

1 point

A researcher traces how a flame transfers heat to nearby leaves until they ignite. Which approach to causation most directly fits this investigation?

A
A regularity account, because it identifies patterns of one event following another.
B
A process and mechanism account, because it traces how heat is transferred to the leaves.
C
A counterfactual account, because it establishes that no other event could have started a fire.
D
A covering-law model, because it treats the flame itself as a general law.

Choose all

1 point

Select all statements that characterize probabilistic or interventionist approaches to causation.

A
A cause may raise the chance of an outcome without guaranteeing it.
B
A cause must guarantee its effect in every case.
C
An intervention can examine what happens when a factor is deliberately changed while relevant alternatives are held fixed.
D
A factor is causal whenever it predicts an outcome, even if it does not influence it.

Written response

1 point

What term is listed as one of the cases that can make a single test of causation difficult?

True or false

1 point

A law governing combustion is itself the particular event that ignites a specific pile of leaves.

A
True
B
False

Choose all

1 point

Select all features of a useful causal explanation described in the material.

A
Identify factors that produced or made a difference to the event.
B
Include every condition in the background, regardless of the question.
C
Where possible, describe how the relevant factors produced the event.
D
Treat any reliable predictor as a cause.

Choose one

1 point

What does the covering-law model use to derive an event?

A
It explains an event only by identifying the closest prior event.
B
It identifies a causal mechanism but excludes laws and conditions.
C
It derives an event from general laws together with information about particular conditions.
D
It treats every regular succession as proof of direct causation.

Fill in the blank

1 point

A cause need not be the sole cause, nor be individually or for its effect.

Open ended

1 point

Using the kitchen-fire example, explain how a causal explanation could answer both “Why did the fire start?” and “Why did it spread so quickly?”

Choose one

1 point

On governing or necessitarian views of laws of nature, what do laws do beyond merely summarizing patterns?

A
They only summarize observed patterns and cannot explain them.
B
They express more than patterns and help explain why those patterns hold or constrain what can happen.
C
They are particular events that directly cause every event they describe.
D
They show that any regularly followed event is caused by its predecessor.

Choose one

1 point

A spark ignites dry leaves on a sunny afternoon. Which conclusion best distinguishes a causal factor from a coincident circumstance?

A
The sunny afternoon caused the fire because it coincided with the spark.
B
The spark may have caused the fire, while the sunny afternoon is not by itself a causal connection.
C
The fire caused the spark because the two events occurred together.
D
Neither event can be a cause unless it is the sole cause.

Choose one

1 point

To assess whether flipping a switch caused a lamp to turn on using a counterfactual approach, what question should you ask?

A
Check whether switches and lamps are regularly observed on sunny days.
B
Identify the law of nature that governs electricity, without considering what would happen otherwise.
C
Ask whether the lamp would have remained dark if the switch had not been flipped.
D
Determine whether the switch was the only event in the sequence.

Choose one

1 point

A falling barometer reading predicts a storm, but atmospheric conditions cause both the reading and the storm. Why does the reading not count as the storm’s cause in this example?

A
Atmospheric conditions can cause both the reading and the storm, making the reading a predictor rather than the storm’s cause.
B
The reading causes the storm because it occurs before the storm.
C
A barometer reading cannot be related to a storm unless it guarantees one.
D
The storm causes the earlier barometer reading.

True or false

1 point

A law governing combustion is not usually the particular event that ignites a specific pile of leaves.

A
True
B
False

Choose one

1 point

A researcher explains a fire by tracing how a flame transfers heat to nearby leaves until they ignite. Which approach to causation is the researcher using?

A
It identifies a regular pattern in which flames are often followed by fires.
B
It asks whether the leaves would have ignited if the flame had not been present.
C
It compares the probability of ignition with and without the flame.
D
It traces how the flame transfers heat to the leaves until they ignite.

Written response

1 point

What type of causal account connects causation with patterns in which events of one kind are regularly followed by events of another kind?

Written response

1 point

What is the name of the model that treats an explanation as deriving an event from general laws together with information about particular conditions?