# Second-Order Effects Second-order effects are consequences produced by the first consequences of an intervention. A message may change not only a recipient's belief but also relationships, norms, platform incentives, adversary behavior, media coverage, or the meaning of later messages. At population scale, optimizing an immediate metric without tracking these downstream changes can damage trust or create the conditions for future manipulation. Systems thinking therefore asks what the response changes in the surrounding environment. Related: [[wiki/Systems Thinking|Systems Thinking]], [[wiki/Cybernetic Feedback Loop|Cybernetic Feedback Loop]], [[wiki/Network Effects|Network Effects]], [[wiki/Adversarial Resilience|Adversarial Resilience]].