# Causal Loops

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This exercise helps you understand how growth patterns arise from the interaction of **reinforcing** and **balancing** feedback loops.\
By identifying key variables and their relationships, you can see what accelerates growth, what limits it, and how behaviour evolves over time.

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### **Exercise Instructions**

1. **Choose an area in your life or work where you want to see growth.**\
   This is your growth parameter of interest. Label this **Variable 1**.
2. **Identify a related variable that accelerates growth** and becomes stronger as Variable 1 increases.\
   This is **Variable 2**, your *growth accelerator*.
3. **Identify another related variable that limits or erodes growth**, becoming stronger as Variable 1 grows.\
   This is **Variable 3**, your *growth inhibitor*.
4. **Consider how these variables interact** through reinforcing (R) and balancing (B) loops.\
   The reinforcing loop increases growth momentum, while the balancing loop eventually constrains it.
5. **Reflect on the Behaviour Over Time graph.**\
   Notice how the balancing loop places limits on growth, shaping the characteristic curve of Variable 1 over time.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/uMy1lfZm91OrXOW0GpDT/blobs/4hzVpmSeCneEPEKqKylh/H3uni_Causal_loop_thinking-31d37105.png)

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<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/uMy1lfZm91OrXOW0GpDT/blobs/ZLEql970gAfCkwOhXUve/image.png" alt="" width="150"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

Creative Commons **Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license framework.**

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