Guidelines for drawing causal loop diagrams

Causal Loop Diagrams In order to help clarify the use of Causal Loop Diagrams in systems thinking, here are some simple basic examples. More extensive examples can be found in Senge (2006) Chapters 5 and 6 and Appendix 2. Causal loops typically have two or three elements, rarely more, except in mature, complex systems. And be careful, they are called ​CAUSAL loops​, as in cause-effect, ​not CASUAL loops​, as in relaxed, informal.

Incidentally, these loops are drawn in Google Docs with the ​Insert > Drawing​ function if you want to try using those tools. Using the Causal Loop Diagram approach preferred by Senge (2006), we can draw systems loops. The single loop system shows student submissions and courseroom posts in a balancing loop; in other words, as the number of posts goes up, the student submissions slow down.

When we consider the effect of instructor questions, it becomes a double loop system with one balancing loop and one reinforcing loop. The reinforcing loop, instructor questions, has a delay, so the effect on the number of posts is not immediate.

Finally, if we add more loops for the nature of the instructor feedback, we have a multiple loop system with a new reinforcing loop for positive feedback, and a new balancing loop for negative feedback. The new feedback loops also have delays, so their effects might carry over into the next discussion.

Again, the discussion boards are probably the simplest and most visible loops in the courseroom. There are several others. I hope these examples make it easier to see and understand system loops.

References Senge, P. M. (2006). ​The fifth discipline: The art & practice of the learning organization​ (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Doubleday.

Guidelines for Drawing Causal Loop Diagrams

https://thesystemsthinker.com/guidelines-for-drawing-causal-loop-diagrams-2/

TOOL BOX: GUIDELINES FOR DRAWING CAUSAL LOOP DIAGRAMS

https://thesystemsthinker.com/guidelines-for-drawing-causal-loop-diagrams-2/
https://thesystemsthinker.com/guidelines-for-drawing-causal-loop-diagrams-2/