[From Rick Marken (2015.10.05.1625)]
RM: Per Bruce Nevin’s suggestion I put the “Behavior as Control” spreadsheet up as a shared Google doc. You can get to it by clicking on this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JmS6tOjt_nvrpmD5sGySwup0ZZCU_hYtZqlHxW80dME/edit?usp=sharing
RM: I have added some rows (behaviors) to the existing file. These are taken from Table 1, p. 172 of LCS I, which actually served as a model for the present spreadsheet. The main difference between Table 1 and the present “Behavior as Control” spreadsheet is the inclusion in the latter of column for disturbances and controlled variable types. So I added disturbances and types to the behaviors that Bill had in his Table 1.
RM: Since I set this up as a “shared” spreadsheet I presume any additions and/or changes you make will permanently change the spreadsheet. So I will try to save a local copy of the latest version of the on-line spreadsheet each day, in case the changes have to be changed back. I guess we can see how it works.
RM: I would like to get as many examples of behavior as possible. The behaviors are anything for which there is a word or phrase that describes what a person is doing: walking, jumping rope, doing stand up comedy, campaigning as a Republican (but I repeat myself). I think going through the exercise of filling out the spreadsheet for a few behaviors should help you organize your thinking about the nature of behavior as control. After all, PCT is about the fact that the behavior of living systems is control and, therefore, must be explained by control theory. In order to understand any named behavior as a control process you have to be able to think about what variable(s) might be controlled, what the reference state of the variables might be, what actions can be taken to get the variable(s) to the reference state and maintained there protected from disturbances, and, finally, what are some of the things that can act as disturbances to the controlled variable.
RM: This is not easy to do – it’s certainly not easy for me. But learning is never really easy. Based on previous submissions I think it’s important to remember that a controlled variable is something that can vary – that can be in at least two different states. A car, for example, is not a variable. So you can’t control a car; but you can control variable aspects of a car – it’s speed, direction, cleanness, etc. Also, it’s important to remember that a disturbance is something independent of the control system that affects the state of the controlled variable. So, for example, doing poorly on a test is not a disturbance to the state of a test score (assume the test score is the controlled variable). Poor performance on the test is a result of the controller’s own lack of skill. What is a disturbance is the questions themselves.
RM: Try to keep these things in mind as you make your contributions to the spreadsheet. But do try to make contributions. Eventually we can discuss them on the net and see if people agree about what the controlled variables, references, actions and disturbances are for each of the behaviors entered. Hopefully we can then try to iteratively improve them and use them to help people understand what we mean when we say that behavior is control and that’s why control theory (in the form of PCT) is the only appropriate theory of the behavior of living systems.
Best
Rick
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Richard S. Marken
www.mindreadings.com
Author of Doing Research on Purpose.
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