NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/bit/listserv/csgl/1457

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From: [e-mail] (William T. Powers)
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Subject: MESSAGE FROM MARY
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Date: 11 Nov 92 20:44:13 GMT
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[from Mary Powers 921111]

Jixuan Hu:

You can tell that Bill Powers is pretty disenchanted with the
ASC. Actually, the Control Systems Group was, in 1983 and 1984, a
group within the ASC, but after two meetings in which we found we
were only talking to each other, we began to meet independently.
Some of us attended further ASC meetings, and you might want to
look up The Conference Workbook for "Texts in Cybernetics" for
the ASC meeting in Felton, California if you want to compare
Glassersfeld, Maturana, and Powers. The Powers text from that
book is also reprinted in Living Control Systems I. But you
should read his Behavior: the control of perception.

The ASC deals in abstract generalizations, and PCT is concerned
with modelling organization. They both are founded on Wiener's
book, which by the way is about control and communication, not
communication and control. But cybernetics has always downplayed
control, while PCT considers it fundamental.

Everybody:

I am getting requests for information about CSG from netters and
by snail mail. The following is what I am sending out (the
bibliography is shamelessly cribbed and edited from Dag's). I
would appreciate suggestions and revisions (keeping in mund that
the PCT section is at max length since I have postage
considerations and can fit everything now on two double-sided
pages)


                    Perceptual Control Theory

While the existence of control mechanisms and processes (such as
feedback) in living systems is generally recognized, the
implications of control organization go far beyond what is generally
accepted. We believe that a fundamental characteristic of organisms
is their ability to control; that they are, in fact, living control
systems. To distinguish this approach from others using some
version of control theory but forcing it to fit conventional
approaches, we call ours Perceptual Control Theory, or PCT.

PCT requires a major shift in thinking from the traditional
approach: that what is controlled is not behavior, but
perception. Modelling behavior as a dependent variable, as a
response to stimuli, provides no explanation for the phenomenon
of achieving consistent ends through varying means, and requires
an extensive use of statistics to achieve modest (to the point of
meaningless) correlations. Attempts to model behavior as planned
and computed output can be demonstrated to require levels of
precise calculation that are unobtainable in a physical system,
and impossible in a real environment that is changing from one
moment to the next. The PCT model views behavior as the means by
which a perceived state of affairs is brought to and maintained
at a reference state. This approach provides a physically
plausible explanation for the consistency of outcomes and the
variability of means.

The PCT model has been used to simulate phenomena as diverse as
bacterial chemotaxis, tracking a target, and behavior in crowds.
In its elaborated form, a hierarchy of perceptual control systems
(HPCT), it has lent itself to a computer simulation of tracking,
including learning to track, and to new approaches to education,
management, and psychotherapy.

Control systems are not new in the life sciences. However,
numerous misapprehensions exist, passed down from what was
learned about control theory by non-engineers 40 or 50 years ago
without further reference to newer developments or correction of
initial misunderstandings. References in the literature to the
desirability of positive feedback and the assertion that systems
with feedback are slower than S-R systems are simply false, and
concerns about stability are unfounded.

The primary barrier to the adoption of PCT concepts is the belief
- or hope - that control theory can simply be absorbed into the
mainstream life sciences without disturbing the status quo. It is
very hard to believe that one's training and life work, and that
of one's mentors, and their mentors, must be fundamentally
revised. Therefore, PCT appeals to those who feel some
dissatisfaction with the status quo, or who are attracted to the
idea of a generative model with broad application throughout the
life sciences (plus AI and robotics). There are very few people
working in PCT research. Much of its promise is still simply
promise, and it meets resistance from all sides.  It is
frustrating but also tremendously exciting to be a part of the
group who believe that they are participating in the birth of a
true science of life.

________________________________________________________________

                          BIBLIOGRAPHY

Powers, William T., Behavior: The Control of Perception.
Hawthorne, NY: Aldine DeGruyter, 1973.
     The basic text.

*Robertson, Richard J. and Powers, William T., editors.
Introduction to Modern Psychology: the Control Theory View. CSG
Books, 1990. ($25 postpaid)
     College-level text.

*Powers, William T., Living Control Systems I : selected papers.
CSG Books, 1989. ($16.50 postpaid)
     Previously published papers, 1960-1988.

*Powers, William T., Living Control Systems II : selected papers.
CSG Books, 1992. ($22 postpaid)
     Previously unpublished papers, 1959-1990.

*Marken, Richard S, Mind Readings : experimental studies of
purpose. CSG Books, 1992. ($18 postpaid)
     Research papers exploring control.

Marken, Richard S., editor. Purposeful Behavior : the control
theory approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications: American
Behavioral Scientist, special issue. Vol. 34, Number 1.
September/October 1990.
     11 articles on control theory.

Runkel, Philip J., Casting Nets and Testing Specimens. New York:
Praeger, 1990., 186 pages.
     When statistics are appropriate; when models are required.

Hershberger, Wayne, editor, Volitional Action : conation and
control. Advances in Psychology 62. NY: North-Holland, 1989.
     25 articles (not all PCT)

Ford, Edward E., Freedom From Stress. Scottsdale AZ: Brandt
Publishing, 1989.
     A self-help book. PCT in a counseling framework.

Gibbons, Hugh, The death of Jeffrey Stapleton : exploring the way
lawyers think. Concord, NH: Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1990.
     A text for law students using control theory.

McClelland, Kent, Perceptual Control and Sociological Theory.
1992.
     Not yet published. Available from the author, Grinnell
     University, Grinnell, Iowa.

McPhail, Clark, The Myth of the Madding Crowd. Hawthorne, NY:
Aldine de Gruyter, 1990.
     Introduces control theory as a way to explain group
     behavior.

McPhail, Clark, Powers, William T., and Tucker, Charles W.,
Simulating Individual and Collective Action In Temporary
Gatherings. Social Science Computer Review, 10:1, Spring 1992.
Durham, NC, Duke University, 1992.
     Computer simulation of control systems in groups.

Petrie, Hugh G., Dilemma of Inquiry and Learning. Univ. of
Chicago press, 1981.
     Introduces PCT to educational theory.

Richardson, George P., Feedback Thought in Social Science and
Systems Theory. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
     A review of systems thinking, icluding PCT.

 *These items are available from CSG Books, 460 Black Lick Road,
Gravel Switch, KY, 40328.

______________________________________________________________

                    The Control Systems Group

The CSG is an organization of people in the behavioral, social,
and life sciences who see the potential in PCT for increased
understanding in their own fields and for the unification of
diverse and fragmented specialties. We maintain a computer
network, and also have a publication, Closed Loop: threads from
CSGnet. Net subscribers find it useful to have thematic
collections of some of the network discussions, and it enables
non-net members to keep up with them.

Closed Loop is published quarterly. It is sent only to members,
who pay $45 a year. This sum supports student subscriptions,
which are $5. Any surplus after production and mailing, plus a
few organizational expenses, is used to help defray costs for
students wishing to attend the annual meeting.

The annual meeting is held in Durango, Colorado, on the campus of
Fort Lewis College. In 1993 it will begin in the evening of
Wednesday, July 28, and end Sunday morning, Aug, 1. There will be
7 plenary meetings (mornings and evenings), with afternoons,
mealtimes, and late night free for further discussion or
recreation. Full details will be available on the net or by mail
after April 1, 1993.

To subscribe to the net, this is the address:

          [e-mail]

send this message:

          SUBSCRIBE CSG-L Lastname Firstname Location/Affiliation

To join CSG, receive conference information, etc., write to

          The Control Sustems Group
          Mary A. Powers
          73 Ridge Place
          Durango CO 81301-8136

A complimentary copy of Closed Loop will be sent upon request.
Back issues are available: Volume 1 (4 issues) is $12. Single
issues of Volume 2, beginning with Jan. 1992, are $6 each.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
penni:

I appreciate your gripe about the cost of CSG membership and
hereby offer you a limited-income membership for $20. (Anyone who
objects is welcome to impeach me. Chuck? Wayne?)

Rick:

>You can't tell what people are doing by watching what they are
>doing.

No indeedy. You apply the Test for the Controlled Quantity. I ran
across a nice quote about the Test. Almost 3 centuries old.

     Search then the ruling passion; there alone
     The wild are constant, and the cunning known;
     The fool consistent, and the false sincere;
     Priests, princes, women, no dissemblers here.
     This clue once found unravels all the rest.

                         Alexander Pope, 1688-1744

Happy unravelling!

                                        Mary P.