Cartwright and Harary’s structural balance extends Heider’s consistency ideas through signed graphs. A three-edge cycle is balanced when its signs have a positive product. This mathematical condition does not establish psychological outcomes or ethical quality, and real relations may depart from binary signed assumptions.
- Entry typeRelated entry
- FromBalance Theory (P–O–X) (model)
- Category of its source unitTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainGroups & Decisions
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Entry type
Related entry
Related entries name an idea, effect or practice that belongs to a model or tool of the series. They are not models or tools themselves and are not counted as such; each one leads to the model or tool it comes from, and to its Executive Insight Brief.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.