Appendix A — A Short Glossary of Pattern Concepts

The state or pattern a system tends to return to over time. A pendulum's attractor is hanging straight down. A person's attractor might be a characteristic mood, energy level, or way of responding. Attractors shift when the conditions that sustain them change.

A moment when a system's behavior changes qualitatively — when a small change in conditions produces a large change in pattern. Water becoming steam at 100°C is a bifurcation point. A tilt tipping a stuck pattern into reorganization is also one.

When two systems influence each other so their behaviors synchronize. Two pendulums on the same wall swing in sync. Two people in conversation synchronize speech rates, postures, and emotional states. Coupling is how patterns link across individuals.

A pattern at one level arising from interactions at a lower level, not predictable by examining the lower level alone. Wetness emerges from H&sub2;O molecules; no single molecule is wet. Consciousness emerges from neural activity; no single neuron is conscious.

A circular causal process where a system's output influences its own input. Positive feedback amplifies change (a microphone near a speaker). Negative feedback dampens change (a thermostat). Most human patterns involve multiple feedback loops operating simultaneously.

A region of influence that shapes what happens within it. A magnetic field shapes metal behavior. An attentional field shapes what you notice. A relational field shapes how you behave with a particular person. Fields describe how influence is distributed.

The tendency of a system to remain in its current state after the conditions that produced it have changed. A pattern persisting after its original cause is gone exhibits hysteresis. This is why insight alone often does not change behavior.

A property unchanged across transformations. An electron's charge is invariant across all interactions. A melody's shape is invariant when transposed to a different key. Certain relational structures (like pursuer-withdrawer) are invariant across different couples and contexts.

A place in a system where a small change produces a disproportionately large effect. In pattern work, leverage points are often temporal (a pause), environmental (a location), relational (a different response), or attentional (a shift in focus).

A change from one state of organization to another. Water freezing. A relationship moving from conflict to resolution. A habit becoming automatic. Phase transitions are often triggered by reaching a threshold, not by gradual accumulation.

A connection between elements that shapes their behavior. Relations are the fundamental units of pattern ontology — not things, but connections between things. Your "personality traits" are descriptions of how you relate to environments, people, and situations.

The property where tiny differences in initial conditions produce enormous differences in outcome. The butterfly effect. In human patterns, a small tilt — a pause, a different word, a shifted posture — can cascade into complete reorganization.

A small change in a single relation within a pattern. Not the change itself, but a redirection the rest of the pattern reorganizes around. A one-degree change in a ship's heading does not move it immediately, but over time it arrives in a different ocean.