Self-organized criticality is a concept used in complex systems theory to describe the emergence of certain patterns of behavior that are neither completely ordered nor entirely random. When a system is in a state of self-organized criticality, it is in a delicate balance between stability and chaos, with small changes potentially leading to large-scale effects. Some synonymous terms include "dynamical criticality", "complexity at the edge of chaos", and "self-tuned criticality". These terms all point towards the idea that the system is able to self-organize its behavior to maintain its critical state, which allows it to respond to external stimuli and adapt to changing conditions in its environment.