Equifinality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Equifinality is the principle that in open systems a given end state can be reached by many potential means.
In psychology, equifinality refers to how different early experiences in life (e.g., parental divorce, physical abuse, parental substance abuse) can lead to similar outcomes (e.g., childhood depression). In other words, there are many different early experiences that can lead to the same psychological disorder.
In archaeology, equifinality refers to how different historical processes may lead to a similar outcome or social formation. For example, the developement of agriculture or the bow and arrow occurred independently in many different areas of the world, yet for different reasons and through different historical trajectories. Highlights that generalizations based on cross-cultural comparisons cannot uncritically be made.
In geomorphology, the term equifinality indicates that similar landforms might arise as a result of quite different sets of processes.
In environmental modeling studies, and especially in hydrological modeling, two models are equifinal if they lead to an equally acceptable or behavioral representation of the observed natural processes. It is a key concept to assess how uncertain hydrological predictions are.
[edit] See also
- Underdetermination
- GLUE - Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation
[edit] References
- Croft, Gary W., Glossary of Systems Theory and Practice for the Applied Behavioral Sciences, Syntropy Incorporated, Freeland, WA, Prepublication Review Copy, 1996
- Durkin, James E. (ed.), Living Groups: Group Psychotherapy and General System Theory, Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1981
- Weisbord, Marvin R., Productive Workplaces: Organizing and Managing for Dignity, Meaning, and Community, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1987
- Beven, K.J. and Binley, A.M., 1992. The future of distributed models: model calibration and uncertainty prediction, Hydrological Processes, 6, p.279–298.
- Beven, K.J. and Freer, J., 2001a. Equifinality, data assimilation, and uncertainty estimation in mechanistic modelling of complex environmental systems, Journal of Hydrology, 249, 11–29.
- Mash, E. J., & Wolfe, D. A. (2005). Abnormal Child Psychology (3rd edition). Wadsworth Canada. pp. 13-14.
