It perhaps not conventional to talk of feedback loops in psychology but it is an important topic particularly at a time when there is much unrest.
Crowd behaviour has long been associated with riots and the me-too behaviour. They are the result of a positive feedback loop. Feedback loops are studied at universities worldwide because of their importance in science and engineering. Such loops are not positive in the sense of being good. They are loops that accentuate an existing trend whether the trend is good or bad.
From the point of view of feedback behaviour the riots last year were understandable. The sight of everyone else benefiting from criminal behaviour, by looting the shops, no doubt flipped some individuals over the boundary of morality to perform an action that they would not normally have considered. The rest of us need not feel smug. How often have you exceeded the speed limit on the motorway when you see everyone else doing so? It is not in the category of burglary and rioting behaviour of course but the tendency is there!
It is important to understand feedback loops because of their potential to run out of control. Typically such a loop will increase its effect in the same proportion each time around. It is like compound interest in this respect but if it is interest at an extortionate rate then the matter gets out of control very quickly. It follows that these loops must be quelled before they do too much damage. It was heartening to see that the courts were sitting all night to bring the offenders to justice before further disorder arose. Such further disorder could well have occurred if it appeared that the offenders were not being adequately punished.
The response of the authorities corresponded to cutting off the feedback so that the loop is no longer active. It is one of several methods for restricting the runaway trend of such loops.
It is not always possible to achieve as effective a solution as the cut-off illustrated recently. In this case other methods may become candidates for consideration. For example looting is intensified if the goods on view are more desirable, to be interpreted as increasing the gain of the loop. It is of course the intention of the shop keeper to make the goods as desirable as possible so that it is a compromise between displaying wares and creating excessive temptation in the minds of people who feel may feel deprived already. The solution might be to only display the goods when there is adequate security around. In effect the loop is opened if the temptation is removed. If this means that the behaviour does not start then there is no example for others to follow and the loop is never instigated.
The conventional way of dealing with crime is an example of a negative feedback loop. In these cases the consequences of a trend are used to correct the trend as appropriate. The sanctions applied by the legal process fall into this category provided the miscreants are adequately informed and dealt with. Delay in applying this form of feedback causes it to become less effective. In physical systems this can lead to violent oscillations; manifested in the present case as a system going out of control. Evidently, sanctions that do not arise until sometime in the future have less effect, it is immediacy that gives the greater control and the sooner this form of feedback is applied the more effective it will be.
The question must also arise as to the effect of a prison environment where inmates can converse and exchange ideas. This is also a feedback loop that might enhance the criminals ability to perform further crimes.
The author has considered how some lessons in science and engineering can be applied to problems in every day life. These have aroused so much interest that it is time to spread the ideas around a larger readership. He has prepared the Scoldent list as an aid for solutions to typical problems. Before retirement he was a Chartered Physicist and a Chartered Engineer. His book "Vicious Loops & Pendulums" is available as an ebook or as a paper-back at http://www.scoldent.co.uk
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Source: http://newsandsociety-crimenews.blogspot.com/2012/07/feedback-loops-and-criminal-tendencies.html
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Source: http://chaveztim10.typepad.com/blog/2012/07/news-and-society-crime-news-blog-feedback-loops-and-criminal.html
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