Inner Attractors

A Lorenz attractor model of psychological change.

What This Is

Inner Attractors implements the EOC (Engagement-Openness-Consolidation) model, a three-variable dynamical system mathematically identical to the Lorenz attractor. The site visualizes how psychological transition dynamics may follow the same coupling topology as the canonical chaotic attractor — two wings, a control parameter, and a bifurcation structure that matches clinical observation.

The Core Claim

Near major psychological transitions, a minimal set of order parameters — Engagement (approach vs. withdrawal), Openness (plasticity vs. rigidity), and Consolidation (pattern formation vs. dissolution) — may locally exhibit Lorenz-type dynamics. The epistemological status is a plausible reduced-model conjecture consistent with the nonlinear psychotherapy literature.

The Pages

Understand — intuition: the two wings, driving intensity, sensitive dependence
The Science — formal framework: equations, six testable predictions, bifurcation analysis, literature
The Cycle — interactive: watch the attractor respond to cycling driving intensity
The Controls — interactive: adjust sigma, rho, beta; bifurcation diagram; Lyapunov exponent
FAQ — 23 questions across model, math, tools, and research

Created By

Scott Johnson (Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Maine) and Claude (Anthropic) through Inner Exploration Labs. Cross-model peer review with ChatGPT (OpenAI).