[From Bob C.(980701.2249 PT)]
I have been thinking alot about PCT and trying to use it to understand much of
the human phenomena of which I am aware from my own experience, and from
observing others both in clinical and non-clinical settings. I have many
phenomena which I would like to try to explain which vary in difficulty for
me, and I have many questions. Delving into one area often leads to both
questions and clues in others, and I think I gradually understand more, the
more I rotate through my list. In some areas I have trouble understanding
with existing PCT language, or the language becomes cumbersome, and it's as if
I need an expanded or higher level language so that I feel less bogged down.
I would like to get some feedback on some areas which I'm grappling with.
I'll try to make an attempt to answere my own questions first, for my own
practice, to communicate where I'm at, and to lessen the effort needed to
respond by others. I would also like to avoid unnecessary arguing if
possible. I will try to be as precise as I can, but some of my posts are not
likely to be as technical and research oriented as others topics, or as close
to being capable of being simulated on a computer.
Some of my posts will likely be the best speculations I can come up with. I
think that this is a part of the process of science coming from an
evolutionary epistemic perspective. If we can iteratively think through many
alternative hypothesis in our heads and eliminate unfit variants with the
accuracy of our imagination, then we can save ourselves much work in only
doing actual experiments with the best.
Among other things, recently, I've been trying to understand addiction with
PCT. My thoughts are still a little fuzzy, and I have some questions. So,
maybe someone can help me out.
I've been thinking of addiction in a general sense as seeking more and more of
something wether this is a drug, sex, sweets, money etc. to the point of being
dysfunctional to the LCS as a whole. I've considered different PCT
explanations for this and I'm trying to select one which is most likely to be
accurate. First I tried to decide whether the amplification of error in the
output increases, or if the reference increases, or the amplification of
perception decreases or any combo. of the above.
The hypothesis of error amplification changing in the output, I think is
related to the phenomena which lead to the proposal of the "universal error
curve." In this case the LCS goes in the opposite direction of giving up and
pursues more of the desired object when availible. If I remember correctly, I
think Bill mentioned the possibility of the output function being bimodal or
two valued. I know that the relationship between subjective language and PCT
language has not quite been worked out, and I know I could be easily wrong,
but on subjective grounds this hypothesis does not sound like it totally
accounts for the phenomena for the following reasons. I associate the level
at which I want something with the reference, and the error as proportional to
my level of dissatisfaction. When I give up, and persistenly resist
temptation for one of my vices, my level of dissatisfaction usually decreases
which seems to indicate to me that my reference has decreased. Furthermore,
when someone gets addicted, most often the level at which they want something
increases over time.
Next I tried to think about how the reference signal might get raised. There
could be a slightly higher up control system which controls the lower level
reference and controls for rate of change. For instance I could have a
control system which says I need a thousand more dollars in my bank acount per
month. Higher up systems could control this one. Reorganization I suppose is
invovled in the system getting tweaked to go farther down the road of
addiction or recovery. The problem which I suspect with the reference for an
addictive variable being controlled from above is that it seems that even when
higher systems want to change an addiction, cravings persist for a long time.
It also seems that addictive craving involves the intrinsic references, and
that this must be what drives the whole system.
My big question is whether it is possible to have a control system such that
the more you feed it, the hungrier it gets, and the less you feed it the less
hungry it gets. It seems this would involve a reference which self increases
when error is small, and decreases with sustained large error.
Sincerely,
Bob C.