Claiming that because event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X, without properly establishing causality.
Examples:
- Doug is convinced he has lucky underwear. One time when he forgot to put on his lucky underwear, he got a parking ticket. Doug concludes that because he forgot to wear his lucky underwear, he got the ticket. Doug doesn’t wash his lucky underwear...
Synonyms: after this, therefore because of this, post hoc rationalization