Negative feedback

While positive loops generate runaway growth, negative loops tend to regulate growth, to hold a system within some acceptable range, or to return it to a stable state in which the system stocks have more or less constant values over time. A negative feedback loop propagates the consequences of a change in one element around the loop until they come back to change that element in a direction opposite to the initial change (Meadows, D.H., et al, 2004: 25). For a more detailed explanation of the feedback phenomenon, see Richardson (1991) and Coyle (1996). Also see positive feedback.