Causal Loops
A simple exercise for exploring reinforcing and balancing feedback loops in growth dynamics.
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.
Exercise Instructions
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.
Identify a related variable that accelerates growth and becomes stronger as Variable 1 increases. This is Variable 2, your growth accelerator.
Identify another related variable that limits or erodes growth, becoming stronger as Variable 1 grows. This is Variable 3, your growth inhibitor.
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.
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.
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