Ripple effect

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For the episode of Stargate SG-1, see Ripple Effect (Stargate SG-1). For the puzzle, see Ripple Effect (puzzle).

The ripple effect is an education-related term associated with the studies of Jacob Kounin. It involves the effects that a reprimand in a group has on members of the group who are not the intended targets of the reprimand (or desist, as Kounin coins it). The ripple effect can also apply if students are not reprimanded to correct a behavior. For example, if one student is talking when he or she is not supposed to be talking, and is not reprimanded, the behavior will spread like a ripple through water, as the rest of the class becomes increasingly more likely to talk at inappropriate times. However, this example does not necessarily apply in all situations, as many variables are introduced through human interaction as in a classroom setting.

[edit] Other uses

The term is also used in sociology and economics, for example when economic growth or price rise spread from one activity or populations to other ones. Alvin Toffler uses a similar concept: the waves of development.

The term was noted in the film Back to the Future Part II, when Doc Emmett Brown was trying to describe the paradox that would occur if the 1955 Marty happened to meet the second Marty from the future. In this case he thought that the fabric of space would be destroyed as the time lines would, in effect, 'ripple'.