Reinforcing and Balancing Loops
To determine if a causal loop is reinforcing or balancing, one can start with an assumption, e.g. "Node 1 increases" and follow the loop around. The loop is:
- reinforcing if, after going around the loop, one ends up with the same result as the initial assumption.
- balancing if the result contradicts the initial assumption.
Or to put it in other words:
- reinforcing loops have an even number of negative links (zero also is even, see example above)
- balancing loops have an uneven number of negative links.
Identifying reinforcing and balancing loops is an important step for identifying Reference Behaviour Patterns, i.e. possible dynamic behaviours of the system.
- Reinforcing loops are associated with exponential increases/decreases.
- Balancing loops are associated with reaching a plateau.
If the system has delays (often denoted by drawing a short line across the causal link), the system might fluctuate.
Read more about this topic: Causal Loop Diagram
Famous quotes containing the words balancing and/or loops:
“Not wishing to be disturbed over moral issues of the political economy, Americans cling to the notion that the government is a sort of automatic machine, regulated by the balancing of competing interests.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“In the labyrinth of a difficult text, we find unmarked forks in the path, detours, blind alleys, loops that deliver us back to our point of entry, and finally the monster who whispers an unintelligible truth in our ears.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)