Thus, a feedback loop is created that includes the environmental demands faced by the group, the guidelines developed for responding to these demands and the child rearing practices that develop character types best able to meet the demands of the group's environment. However, Hogan cautions that the rules and behaviors that a group evolves, in response to the demands of an environment, apply only to past conditions. There is no guarantee that values, rules and behaviors that have been successful in the past will be equally successful under the current or some future environmental conditions. Hogan suggests that some societies and cultures become dysfunctional and fail. One important benchmark for the health of a social group or a culture is the extent to which its members comply with its rules and standards for behavior.
Cultures usually fail for one of two reasons.
The first reason that failure is likely to occur is that the feedback loop just described breaks down. This happens when most, if not all, of the individuals within a culture become insulated from the most fundamental demands of the environment in which it must function. The second reason that a society may fail is the development of factionalism . Factionalism results from the evolution of a social structure that undermines the solidarity and common purpose that is needed to maintain a society's cultural focus or coherence. All societies have a certain degree of factionalism that results in varying degrees of both internal conflict and cooperation.