Self-organising human functioning

I tentatively propose a model of human functioning grounded in systems theory, specifically the concepts of networks, feedback cycles, and self-organisation.

On this page:

Networks and self-organisation

A network is a collection of interacting objects (Watts, 2003, p. 27).

When the interactions within a network form feedback cycles, the network may become capable of self-organisation, that is, the spontaneous emergence of order without central control (Capra, 1997, p. 82).

Self-organising systems require a continuous flow of energy or resources to sustain these feedback processes.

Capra describes the web of life as composed of networks within networks, in which the nodes of any given network are themselves networks (1997, p. 35). Here is a biological example of nested, self-organising networks:

a network of atoms forms a molecule;
a network of molecules forms a cell;
a network of cells forms an organ;
a network of organs forms an individual human body; and
a network of humans forms a society.

At each level of this hierarchy, new forms of organisation and new system properties arise.

A self-organising system

A self-organising system can be seen as a network of interacting components in which feedback cycles, sustained by ongoing energy or resource inputs, generate emergent patterns of organisation without external direction.

Self-organising & human functioning

I propose a network structure for human psychological and social functioning:

a network of actions, ideas, and feelings forms a habit,
a network of habits forms an individual’s character, and
a network of individuals forms a social group.

This proposal is supported in part by Weinberg’s assertion that people continually recreate their entire psychic structure through habitual behaviour. When a person takes a chosen action, they reinforce the ideas and feelings that motivate that action. Because habits consist of repeated actions, they repeatedly reinforce their motivating ideas and feelings. (See my page on Weinberg.)

Psychodrama role theory also supports focus on a person’s action, ideas, and feelings in identifying a role: ‘the functioning form that the individual assumes in the specific moment he reacts to a specific situation’ (Moreno 1964, p. 185).

The energy humans use to self-organise comes from the food they eat.

Habits

A habit is an activity that a person repeats with little or no conscious deliberation, a way of thinking, feeling, or acting in response to a familiar situation. A person can perform multiple habits at the same time, like speaking in their own language, with their own accent and mannerisms, and riding a bike. Habits can be adaptive or maladaptive: some support effective functioning (e.g., regular exercise), while others constrain it (e.g., nail-biting). Habits include:

Weinberg’s ordinary habits and compulsive habits.
Psychodynamic defences, which are habitual responses to hidden feelings or conflict.
Adequate and overdeveloped life roles, not underdeveloped or embryonic roles.
Skills, such as walking, talking, tying shoelaces, and playing guitar, which each person does in their own characteristic way.

Feedback cycles in human habits

Habits develop as feedback cycles organise a person’s actions, ideas, and feelings. Many feedback cycles contribute to habit development: self-reinforcing cycles and damping cycles. Below, I mention them very briefly because I discuss these feedback cycles on the systems theory page,

Chosen actions: Amplifying cycles between a chosen action and each of its motivating ideas and feelings;


Repeat a chosen action.		Reinforce each motivating idea and feeling.

Rewards: Amplifying feedback cycles between an action, its rewards, and motivating ideas and feelings.


Repeat an action		Get more rewards
	Strengthen some motivating ideas and feelings

Compulsive habits: Amplifying cycles linking a dread, a defensive action, and the resulting damage. These are perverse cycles because here an activity’s damage leads to more of the activity. (I used these cycles in counselling.)


More Defence, e.g. gambing		More damage
	Greater Dread

Rejected actions: The amplifying cycles between “rejecting an action” and the “weakening of the action’s motivating ideas and feelings”.


Reject an action.		Weaken each idea and feeling motivating the rejected action.

Punishment: Damping feedback cycles occur when an activity results in damage or adverse consequences.


More Perform an activity. Less		More Punnishment More

In this cycle: (1) The more you perform this activity, the more punishment you get, and (2) the more punishment, the less you tend to perform the activity.

Feedback cycles like these organise how habits stabilise, intensify, or weaken over time.

Emergent properties

A defining feature of self-organising systems is the emergence of properties that do not exist at lower levels of complexity. For example, when atoms bond to form a sugar molecule, the emergent property of sweetness arises. This sweetness does not exist in the individual carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms that constitute the molecule (Capra, 1997, p. 28).

A property that emerges from each person’s network of habits or roles is the person’s self or character. This is consistent with Moreno, who saw roles as the building blocks of the self. “Role playing is prior to the self. Roles do not emerge from the self, but the self emerges from roles” (Moreno, 1964: ii). Character is evident through a person’s habits; for example, a person’s habits can reveal a sweet-natured way of relating.

Tentative hypothesis

Capra’s work makes it clear that self-organisation in living systems is a complex and contested subject. Accordingly, I offer this framework only tentatively. Nonetheless, it may be a step towards a useful model of self-organising human functioning—one that integrates systems theory with established psychological concepts and offers a coherent way of understanding habits, character, and social organisation as emergent phenomena shaped by feedback cycles.

The introduction to my counselling pages includes:

Links to the other counselling pages, including those describing how this approach relates to other counselling practices and theories, see the top of the introduction page
References for all the counselling pages, at the end of the introduction page.

Loaded 28 Jan 2026.