Meaning of feedback (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Feedback:

Feedback is an English word that means feedback; we can use it as a synonym for response or reaction, or, from a more technical point of view, to refer to a method of systems control.

In this sense, feedback can be the reaction, response or opinion that an interlocutor gives us as a return on a certain matter: "I presented my report to the shareholders and the feedback was very positive."

On the other hand, as feedback we can call the systems control method, in which the results obtained from a task or activity are reintroduced into the system in order to make the necessary modifications, either to control the system or to optimize your behavior.

As such, the term is used, in the latter sense, in specialized areas, such as administration, engineering, communication, psychology or electronics, among others.

The word comes from English, and is made up of the verb to feed , which means 'to feed', and back , which translates into Spanish 'back' or 'return'. Its translation can be 'feedback' or 'feedback'.

Feedback positive and negative

Within a system, feedback can be both positive and negative, depending on the consequences it has on its operation. Thus, negative feedback is one that helps maintain balance in a system, counteracting and regulating the consequences of certain actions, while positive feedback is one where the system grows or evolves towards a new state of equilibrium.

Feedback in communication

In a communicative process, as feedback we call any relevant response or reaction that the receiver sends to the sender of a message, and that serves the latter to:

1. Make sure that the message fulfilled its communicative intention, and so that the sender can vary, reconfigure or adapt the message to the receiver according to the response you get from it.

Thus, for example, if the message is altered by some type of barrier (noise, distance, etc.), the sender may gradually increase the tone of his voice until he receives affirmative feedback from the receiver that the message has arrived correctly. In this way, the recipient completes the communication process with feedback , that is, the recipient's response or reaction to the message sent.

Feedback in Business Administration

In the theories of business administration, feedback is called the action of giving opinions, evaluating and considering the performance of a person or group of people in carrying out a job or task. As such, it is an action that reveals the strengths and weaknesses, the positive and negative points, of the work carried out in order to correct, modify or improve it.

Feedback in Psychology

In Psychology, feedback is an interpersonal communication tool that allows us to manifest to our interlocutors, verbally or not, the effect that their words or actions cause in us. The behaviors of individuals, in this sense, work within feedback loops, this means that the behavior of one person affects that of others, being that the first, in turn, will also be influenced by the behaviors that come from back, and so on.

Feedback in Electronics

In electronics, as well as in associated areas, such as electrical engineering, feedback is called the feedback of a system, which, as such, consists of the transfer of the output signal to the input of the same system or circuit, which derives an increase in the output level (positive feedback ) or a decrease in the output level (negative feedback ).

Also, in a sound system, feedback is the return of a fraction of the output signal of an amplifier or microphone to the input of the same, which consequently causes a distortion of the sound produced.