Incestuous amplification

" ... a conclusion that comes from other generals talking to each other. In the Pentagon we call this kind of positive reinforcement an "incestuous amplification" of one's OODA Loop.

The existence of Incestuous Amplification shapes one's Orientation by naturally distorting the Observations feeding that Orientation. (The observer sees what he wants to see rather than what is.) When this happens, the Decisions and Actions flowing from that Orientation become progressively disconnected from reality. This process pumps dysfunctional behavior into the OODA loop which then becomes magnified as the effects of the disconnected actions are fed back into the Incestuously Amplified Orientation. As any student of nonlinear dynamics or evolution knows, this kind of positive feedback loop can produce confusion and disorder and ultimately degenerate into chaos or extinction, if the organism becomes disconnected from its environment. Any hint of Incestuous Amplification is therefore a bright red flag." -- The View From Mount Olympus Seen from the Cheap Seats, 12 June 2001

Refer also to the Groupthink article.