Editing Feedback (section)

====Terminology====
The terms positive and negative feedback are defined in different ways within different disciplines.

# the change of the ''gap'' between reference and actual values of a parameter or trait, based on whether the gap is ''widening'' (positive) or ''narrowing'' (negative).<ref name="Ramaprasad" />
# the [[Valence (psychology)|valence]] of the ''action'' or ''effect'' that alters the gap, based on whether it makes the recipient or observer ''happy'' (positive) or ''unhappy'' (negative).<ref name=herold1977>Herold, David M., and Martin M. Greller. "Research Notes. FEEDBACK THE DEFINITION OF A CONSTRUCT." Academy of management Journal 20.1 (1977): 142-147.</ref>

The two definitions may be confusing, like when an incentive (reward) is used to boost poor performance (narrow a gap). Referring to definition 1, some authors use alternative terms, replacing ''positive'' and ''negative'' with ''self-reinforcing'' and ''self-correcting'',<ref name="senge">
{{Cite book
|author=Peter M. Senge
|title=The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
|year=1990
|publisher=Doubleday
|location=New York
|isbn=978-0-385-26094-7
|page=424
|url=https://archive.org/details/fifthdisciplineasen00seng
}}
</ref> ''reinforcing'' and ''balancing'',<ref name="sterman">
John D. Sterman, ''Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World'', McGraw Hill/Irwin, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-07-238915-9}}
</ref> ''discrepancy-enhancing'' and ''discrepancy-reducing''<ref name="carver">
Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier: ''On the Self-Regulation of Behavior'' Cambridge University Press, 2001 
</ref> or ''regenerative'' and ''degenerative''<ref>
Hermann A Haus and Richard B. Adler, ''Circuit Theory of Linear Noisy Networks'', MIT Press, 1959
</ref> respectively. And for definition 2, some authors promote describing the action or effect as ''positive'' and ''negative'' ''[[Reinforcement#Reinforcement|reinforcement]]'' or ''[[Reinforcement#Punishment|punishment]]'' rather than feedback.<ref name="Ramaprasad" /><ref name="skinner">
BF Skinner, ''The Experimental Analysis of Behavior'', American Scientist, Vol. 45, No. 4 (SEPTEMBER 1957), pp. 343-371</ref>
Yet even within a single discipline an example of feedback can be called either positive or negative, depending on how values are measured or referenced.<ref>
"However, after scrutinizing the statistical properties of the structural equations, the members of the committee assured themselves that it is possible to have a significant positive feedback loop when using standardized scores, and a negative loop when using real scores."
Ralph L. Levine, Hiram E. Fitzgerald. ''Analysis of the dynamic psychological systems: methods and applications'', {{ISBN|978-0306437465}} (1992) page 123</ref>

This confusion may arise because feedback can be used to provide ''information'' or ''motivate'', and often has both a ''[[Qualitative property|qualitative]]'' and a ''[[Quantitative property|quantitative]]'' component. As Connellan and Zemke (1993) put it:
{{Blockquote|''Quantitative'' feedback tells us how much and how many. ''Qualitative'' feedback tells us how good, bad or indifferent.<ref name=Connellan>Thomas K. Connellan and Ron Zemke, "Sustaining Knock Your Socks Off Service" AMACOM, 1 July 1993. {{ISBN|0-8144-7824-7}}</ref>{{rp|page=102}}}}