The Coupling Graph
The Coupling Graph shows how participating terms regulate one another and what their organization makes possible. It complements the Decompression Map: derivational dependencies say what a definition requires, while this view describes relations in operation.
Reading a relation
couples-with identifies a composite and its
participating terms. It does not specify a universal execution order,
equal influence, or mirrored timing. cross-regulates
identifies reciprocal constraints; regulates identifies a
directed corrective relation. The source and target columns are
identifiers, not a timetable.
The two affective compositions are Love ⊕ Fear → Submission and Apology ⊕ Gratitude → Reconciliation. Submission organizes relation and boundary; Reconciliation joins inward correction with outward value. An object being reconciled is a different kind of relation from either component of that composition.
Indexed couplings
The following table is generated at build time from the coupling data. Its rows and evidence links therefore use the same source as the published JSON. The source pages supply the meanings of the relation types and the context of the named outcomes.
Causal interpretation
A composition must identify how its terms contribute to the emergent operation. A gate can connect a correction to an act that depends on it. That local direction does not prohibit feedback elsewhere, just as reciprocal regulation does not require equal strength or simultaneous action.
Error surfaces in the data describe failures under a specified loss of regulation. They are not diagnoses of a component merely because it operates independently. For example, ordinary Apology is not a guilt loop, and ordinary Gratitude is not the sentimental form.
The graph is effective as a reference when a changed relation changes its data row, visible table, and evidence links together. A link-valid graph can still misrepresent a source; its semantic fidelity remains a question of the actual relation represented.
Formal status
E: Derived, Exposition; the selection and representation of relations are CV. A: faithfully displays the indexed relations and directs the reader to their owning definitions. Provenance: the framework's operational reference. Generated agreement establishes data consistency, not the truth of every indexed claim.
See also
Force · The Interaction Matrix · The Attack-Surface Matrix · System Invariants · The Decompression Map · Cross-Regulated Necessity