Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

The Fallacy

Assuming that because B comes after A, A caused B.

Why it's wrong

Of course, sometimes one event really does cause another one that comes later—for example, if I register for a class, and my name later appears on the roll, it's true that the first event caused the one that came later. But sometimes two events that seem related in time aren't really related as cause and event. That is, correlation isn't the same thing as causation.

Example

I sneezed at the same time the power went off. My sneeze did something to make the power go off.