• Otter@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    It’s not about good things or bad things

    Negative feedback loop: X is added to the system, which causes less X to be produced. Over time, the rate at which new X is appearing will go down.

    • This is the more common one in biology. As something starts to build up in your body, your body makes it so you don’t produce it as quickly (so you don’t ‘overdose’ on the chemicals you are making)

    Positive feedback loop: X is added to the system, which causes more X to be produced. Over time, the rate at which new X is appearing will go up.

    • This is more rare because it pushes to an extreme. Example might be birth, where pressure on the uterus causes the release of oxytocin, which causes contractions, which causes more pressure, even more oxytocin, etc. till birth is completed

    So in this case it’s a positive feedback loop regardless, because something is being pushed to the extreme.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        No

        Ok fine:

        Reinforcement encourages a behavior, but the method depends

        • positive = add something good (ex. When they do something good, you give them a cookie)
        • negative = remove something bad (ex. When they do something good, you reduce the number of hours they have to work)

        The wording can flip the meaning, so don’t get too hung up on it

        • ex. Give a cookie (positive), could also be reducing hunger
        • ex. Reducing work hours (negative), could also be giving more vacation time