Your mind is a complex machine constantly receiving and processing information, but what if we told you that a powerful mechanism shapes your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions within this complex system? Welcome to the world of feedback loops!
What Is a Feedback Loop and How Does it Work?
Feedback loops are like the gears of a clock, working tirelessly to keep things ticking. Simply put, they're cyclical processes in which the input of what you do or feel influences what you'll do or feel next, and so on. It's a loop in which the output of your actions or thoughts becomes the input for further processing.
These loops aren't just limited to your own thoughts; they're everywhere. From how you perceive situations to how you interact with others and even how societies function, feedback loops shape our experiences, ideas, and behaviors at every turn! Understanding how they work is essential for navigating the complexities of our minds, lives, and relationships. A feedback loop is why specific habits persist, change can feel difficult, and our sense of mental well-being is connected to our everyday experiences.
Here's how psychological feedback loops work:
- Something happens, like a thought or an event.
- Our brain reacts to it, which leads to a certain feeling or behavior.
- That feeling or behavior then affects what happens next, creating a loop.
For example, positive thoughts might make us happy, leading to more positive thoughts. On the other hand, having negative thoughts might make us feel sad, which could lead to more negative thoughts. So, our thoughts and feelings keep feeding into each other, creating a loop that can either be positive or negative.
What Are the Two Types of Feedback Loops?
In psychology, there are two main types of feedback loops:
- Positive feedback loops
- Negative feedback loops.
Think of a positive feedback loop as a magnifying glass for your actions or feelings—it can make them bigger and stronger, whether they're good or bad. Conversely, a negative feedback loop acts like a stabilizer, keeping things balanced and steady. Understanding how feedback loops work together is key to understanding our behavior!
The Unknown Side of Positive Feedback Loops
We already know that positive feedback loops amplify certain behaviors or emotions. A positive feedback loop happens when the output of a process amplifies the initial action, leading to an increase in that behavior or emotion.
For instance, think about social media use. The more likes and comments you receive on a post, the more likely you are to continue posting similar content to get even more engagement. This cycle perpetuates and amplifies your social media activity.
This 2016 study found evidence supporting the idea of a positive feedback loop between positive activities, kindness, and well-being. The authors suggest that when we engage in positive activities, like spreading kindness, it's not just a one-time thing—the overall effect is a persistent feedback loop. Our acts of kindness make most people feel better about their days and seriously boost our well-being. It's like planting seeds of happiness that keep growing and will determine the course of our actions.
Nonetheless, positive feedback loops are like a double-edged sword.
While they can be beneficial for reinforcing good behaviors or emotions, they can also perpetuate harmful patterns. For example, in the context of addiction, the pleasure derived from substance use triggers a positive feedback loop, reinforcing the behavior and making it more likely to recur in the future, too.
Similarly, in the case of anxiety, avoiding anxiety-provoking situations may temporarily reduce discomfort, but it reinforces avoidance behavior, making it more likely to repeat the situation in the future. Thus, positive feedback loops motivate us to continue doing the same things and repeat patterns.
The Hidden Power of Negative Feedback Loops
Negative feedback loops act as a stabilizing force within a system, they occur when the output of a process counters the initial action, leading to a decrease or regression of that behavior or emotion. A classic example is the body's temperature regulation: when you're too hot, your body sweats to cool down. This action reduces your temperature, decreasing sweating and thus maintaining a balanced internal temperature.
One study found that negative feedback loops are essential for maintaining homeostasis and that they help regulate human behavior and emotions, preventing them from spiraling out of power. For instance, in the context of stress (e.g., a business meeting), the body's stress response triggers the release of cortisol and adrenaline. Once the stressor is removed, the negative feedback mechanisms kick in to reduce the production of these stress hormones, restoring the body to a state of balance.
Thus, negative feedback loops encourage us to adjust our behavior or try a different approach to achieve better results in the future.
The Science Behind Feedback Loops
In this 2011 article in Wired magazine, journalist and entrepreneur Thomas Goetz delves into the realm of technology companies crafting innovative solutions with feedback loops to influence human behavior. One company explored in Goetz's article caught our attention: Vitality.
Vitality produces a cap designed for prescription pill bottles known as the GlowCap:
The GlowCap is quite simple to use: upon receiving a medication prescription, a GlowCap is supplied by either the physician or pharmacy to be affixed atop the pill bottle, supplanting the conventional childproof cap.
The device comes with a plug-in unit called a night-light, and it links to a database that knows the patient's dosage directions—for example, they must take two pills twice a day, at 7 AM and 7 PM. The device has four stages of action.
- First stage: If it is 7 AM and the pill bottle is not opened, the GlowCap and the night light start pulsing with a gentle orange light.
- Second stage: If the pill bottle remains unopened, the light pulses a little more urgently.
- Third stage: The device plays a song—not an annoying buzz or alarm.
- Fourth stage: The patient receives a text message or a recorded phone call reminding them to take their pill.
This clever design creates a continuous feedback loop that encourages patients to adhere to their medication schedule, and the gentle reminders have proven highly effective.
A 2010 study conducted by Partners HealthCare and Harvard Medical School exemplifies this. They provided GlowCaps to 140 patients on hypertension medications, while a control group received bottles with inactive GlowCaps. After three months, adherence in the control group dropped to less than 50 percent, a common trend in previous studies. However, patients using GlowCaps showed significant improvement, with over 80 percent consistently taking their pills throughout the entire six-month study period.
