Crime and punishment. Cause and effect. The scientific assessment noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the results of the other or others. You speed in a school zone. You get caught. You pay a fine. You spend Friday night snuggled up with a bottle of Jack Daniels, you wake up the next morning cuddling a massive migraine. You take your kid to Target to get milk, you end up leaving with a meaningless $7-12 toy (we call that the Target Tax in my house).