Research that shows that people infer causation from correlation
A much-cited reference on the statistical backgrounds is this one: 


Simon (1954), Spurious Correlation: A Causal Interpretation, J Am Stat Assoc; 49(267)


A more recent, open access but applied research paper on the topic is:


Parise et al. (2013), When Correlation Implies Causation in Multisensory Integration, Curr Biol; 22(1): 46–9