Increasing wildfire severity highlights the need for large-scale shifts in management of fire-prone landscapes. While prior research has focused on cognitive biases, social norms, and institutional disincentives that limit reform, such factors are best understood as components of feedback loops that operate within complex adaptive systems. We evaluated the prominence and function of feedback loops embedded in cognitive maps—beliefs about patterns of causal relationships that drive system dynamics—elicited from a diverse cross-section of stakeholders in a fire-prone region in the U.S. West. We demonstrate that cognition of feedback loops is rare among individuals, but increasingly prominent within aggregations of cognitive maps, which underscores the importance of collaborative decision-making. Our analysis further reveals a bias toward perception of amplifying feedback loops and of loops in which management actions result in desirable outcomes, which points to areas where progress may be made in reforming wildfire risk governance.

野火严重程度的增加凸显了对火灾多发地区的管理进行大规模转变的必要性。虽然先前的研究集中在限制改革的认知偏见、社会规范和制度阻碍因素，但最好将这些因素理解为在复杂的适应性系统中运作的反馈循环的组成部分。我们评估了嵌入在认知地图中的反馈回路的重要性和功能——关于驱动系统动态的因果关系模式的信念——来自美国西部火灾多发地区的不同利益相关者。我们证明了反馈回路的认知在个体中很少见，但在认知地图的聚合中越来越突出，这强调了协作决策的重要性。