Scientific Definition
Single-loop fixes the action. Double-loop questions the goal or model that produced it.
Plain-English Definition
Single-loop fixes the action. Double-loop questions the goal or model that produced it.
Feynman Explanation
Trying harder is single-loop. Asking 'are we even solving the right problem?' is double-loop.
Core Principle
Single-loop fixes the action. Double-loop questions the goal or model that produced it.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Single-loop fixes the action. Double-loop questions the goal or model that produced it.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
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Most retrospectives are single-loop in disguise — they tune the recipe instead of questioning the cookbook.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Trying harder is single-loop. Asking 'are we even solving the right problem?' is double-loop.
Examples
- Argyris & Schön's research on defensive routines inside organizations.
- Most retrospectives are single-loop in disguise — they tune the recipe instead of questioning the cookbook.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- After every post-mortem, force one double-loop question before closing out.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- After every post-mortem, force one double-loop question before closing out.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Single-loop: fix the action. Double-loop: question the governing assumption behind it. Chris Argyris.
Three-stage cycle: learn by seeing, learn by doing, learn by teaching — looped continuously.
Single-loop fixes errors; double-loop questions the assumptions producing them.
Systems that gain from disorder.
Approach motivation — pursuit of rewards and goals.
Avoidance motivation — sensitivity to punishment, uncertainty, and threat.
Map reinforcing (R) and balancing (B) feedback loops between variables to see system behavior.
A system with many interacting parts that learn and adapt.
Many interacting parts producing emergent behavior nobody designed.
System 1 is fast, automatic, intuitive; System 2 is slow, effortful, deliberate.
Interdependent network of actors evolving together.
The whole has properties that the individual parts do not.