Is correlation similar to increases/decreases in likelihood and degree?

[babycorn]

Hi,

I noticed similarities between words that indicate a correlation and words that show increases/decreases in likelihood and was wondering if they are similar concepts or overlapping concepts.

For example, there are words that typically show a correlation between two things, such as "rock climbers being more likely than others to have once suffered from a fear of heights."
Then, there are words that show a cause that increases the force of an effect, such as "confronting one's fears increases one's self-confidence."

From those two examples, can't it be said that the increases in likelihood words be used in the correlation example? Like, "being a rock climber (the cause) increases the chances that they once suffered from a fear of heights (the force of an effect; fear of heights is the effect)".

I hope this makes sense. Please help alleviate my confusion.

[Adam Tyson]

That's absolutely right, babycorn! When one thing "increases" or "decreases" another thing, that is having an effect, so it is a causal relationship, and the correlation is baked right into it. Causal language is active like that, with one thing giving another thing a push in one direction or another.