Cyclic Causation

As I was researching the different types of causality, I came across the notion of cyclic causality. In cyclic causation, one variable impacts another, and then this variable impacts the first variable. In the case that this is confusing, refer to the illustration below:

As you can see above, the cycle begins with A. A then causes B, B causes C, and C finally causes A again. This causation continues to in a cyclical pattern and is never ending. A good example of this type of causation would be the water cycle.

As shown in the illustration above, the water cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and within the Earth. It is a never ending cycle. One thing is constantly causing another, and so forth. Overall, cyclic causation is a very interesting type of causality that can be seen everywhere. For example, cyclic causation is also shown in abuse. Abuse tends to start with tension, which then results in an incident (physical fight). This then leads to reconcile, which leads to a calm forgiving environment. However, this cycle starts over after the calmness ends. This is shown in the picture below:

*Please excuse how blurry it is. Just pay attention to the bold words. (Tensions Building, Incident, Reconciliation, and Calm)

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/smg/Website/UCP/causal/causal_types.html