[From Dick Robertson, 2001.08.15.1520CDT]
I have been thinking over our discussion on IMP2 at St. Louis and would
like to hear from the group about it. I'm attaching a 5 page proposed
outline with the first couple of pages being what I propose to start the
text. I have some tentative commitments;
One finished chapter from Tim Carey, one in process from Phil Runkel,
general commitments (I think) from Kent McClelland, Bill Powers and Rick
Marken, a "possible" from Franz Plooij. Now I'd like you all to take a
look at the outline, give me any comments you have and Especially plug
yourselves in where you would like to fit. Don't hesitate to add extra
chapters when yours doesn't come under some part of the outline.
Lloyd proposed that maybe we could put it out in modular form, and as I
think about it that might not be a bad idea, especially since there
might be several pieces of text as well as a CD of demos and exercises.
The second module might simply be MAKING SENSE. As I had a new look at
it after the conference it seemed that it already was what I would think
as just right for our intended main audience of undergraduates and
autodidacts.
I repeat that I think it would be a great way for some students (who
think of themselves as majoring in psychology because they "aren't good
at math" to be introduced so subtly and gradually into the simplest kind
of modeling that they might get indoctrinated in basic science before
they even realize what's happening. I'm not kidding. Some 10 or 15
years ago, when I was still doing part time rehab psychology, I
subscribed to a journal called, The Journal of Cognitive
Rehabilitation. In each issue the editor/publisher printed two or three
quick-basic programs that supplied a patient with some kind of cognitive
exercise. I used a lot of them. They often worked, i.e. the patients
would begin redeveloping various lost or impaired cognitive skills. The
journal published the code so you could actually type it in and run it
directly. I had an old hand scanner, so I didn't even need to type it
in.
That's where I got this idea. If the student does the first exercise
in the outline as a game, then sees the code and is invited to download
it and see that it actually gives the exercise that he has just done, he
is set for the next step: explanation of the algorithm. Then I would
give the simplest tracking task the same way.
I do not propose to do that with any more of the demos. Once the
student has got the idea from one or two basic exercises, we can tell
them that the rest of the demos are executable files in Pascal or
whatever it is and if they want to model they will have to learn more
programming. But if most of the readers at least do that first step
they will have an intuitive idea about how the theory/math is embedded
in the more complex programs.
Hoping to hear from you,
Best, Dick R.
Introduction to Modern Psychology 2nd Edition
Chapter 1 Behavior: Psychology in the Life Sciences
You hear a lot about integration these days. The integration of women into the armed forces, the
integration of different skills in business teams for special projects, the integration of the sciences-
-all are examples of the combining of previously separate categories into new working affiliations.
In this book you will find that we can not talk about psychology as a separate topic. It is more
and more being integrated into the larger scope of the life sciences. We will at times illustrate our
points with discussions of biology, sociology, sports, economics and still other of the traditional
"disciplines." That doesn't mean we will take a random walk through the different fields of human
endeavor. There is a common core, one that psychology has emphasized more than any other
field until recently when the various fields have begun to merge.
The common core of the life sciences is behavior. Behavior is the term for that which most
differentiates living organisms from non-living matter. It will be the central focus of this book.
We promise you that, as you come to understand how behavior works, you will begin to share the
excitement of both the search for answers to the scientific questions about the nature of life, and
the new insights and applications which are beginning to arise from a fuller understanding of the
nature of behavior.
(1)Let us start the journey with an imaginary "treasure hunt" that will give you an immediate
sense of the promise that awaits you. Imagine that there is a treasure that you must find
somewhere in a deep jungle. You have a compass and a map that shows you its location on a hill
somewhere in the jungle, but it doesn't show you any route for getting there. You must find that
out for yourself. The jungle has many paths in it but many soon peter out in impassable tangles of
thorn bushes, or alligator swamps in other places or quick-sand sink holes in still other places.
You can start out in the direction where the treasure lies as indicated on the map but pretty soon
you might find that you are no longer heading in the right direction. The path has swerved or you
have had to turn to avoid one of those obstacles. All you can do is stop moving in the direction
you are, start out in any new direction available. But if you soon discover it is not going in the
right direction you must stop again and try some other path that seems open, checking as soon as
you are again moving to see whether you are going in the right direction, and if not, stopping and
starting off in a new path, as often as necessary to reach your goal.
NOW go to EXERCISE ONE on the CD and follow the instructions there. You might repeat
the procedure several times and you will probably find that you improve your solution time.
(2) {Comment, especially to Rick and Bill: My idea is to introduce hands-on at the beginning
via a re-formulation of ecoli. I hope Rick will do it in quick basic or visual-basic code so
that students can be led to programming and modeling as we go along in the course. We
obviously will have to settle on a programming language that students can get from the
public domain.}
All right, you have now given yourself an example of behavior (your own). Let's sit back and
think about what you have learned. Notice that even though you were at the mercy of fate (the
program)--that is, you couldn't go directly to the treasure, even though you knew where it was,
still you finally got there by stopping yourself whenever you could see that what you were doing
presently was wrong and then starting out again at random.
How does what you have just done relate to more important issues in your life? Try to remember
the very first time you picked up a baseball bat or a tennis racquet or got on a skateboard or pair
of in-line skates. Did you know just what movements (or actions) to make? You knew what
results you wanted to get but could you immediately make that happen? Didn't you have to
accept that you must make some motions more or less at random and see how close you got to
what you wanted with each new attempt? That used to be called "trial and error," which is still a
pretty good name for the subjective experience.
NOW go back to the CD and do EXERCISE TWO.
{Comment--Exercise two presents the original ecoli task in executable form.}
You will have noticed that it was the same exercise although the labels were different. Did you
find that you solved the problem quicker this time? More about that later. The labels this time
showed where this exercise came from originally. It was a model built by Richard Marken to test
whether the description by D. E. Koshland (1980) of how a simple organism travels to its food
could actually be true. (The organism has no ability to steer itself.) Marken showed that
Koshland's explanation could work.
By introducing it here we hope to have accomplished several things. First, it is useful as an
example of how we can gain an understanding of some very simple aspect of human action with a
parallel from a much humbler animal. You have probably heard of many examples of drawing
conclusions about human functioning from animal parallels in medical research. While that
involves a rather different research process the way that conclusions can be drawn by simplifying
the analysis is not unrelated.
Second, you now have an example of behavior (whether of a germ or a human) that can be
resolved into its simplest form with a model that can be programmed on a computer. As part of
this course we will show you more models, of different aspects of behavior, show you how they
were made and help you make a beginning in learning to program a simple model yourself: First
off you can simply copy a program and see it run. Then you will get to see the underlying
principles. And finally we hope some of you (at least) will add to the growing study of behavior
by building models yourself.
Third, we hope that the exercise has increased your appreciation for the hands-on or "I want to
see for myself" feature that distinguishes science from all other forms of human knowledge. This
is a good procedure not only for science but for everyday life, whether as a means of avoiding the
traps of idle gossip or checking out the facts in advertisments and come-ons of all sorts.
{COMMENT I think we ought to dispense with the sections from IMP 1listed below
because I doubt that the ordinary undergraduate or even the general reader is as interested
in the controversy about basic theory as I thought when writing IMP 1. I think we
should do as the other texts do and just go ahead telling the reader what our subject is
all about.}
1.2 Paradigms in science: the nature of scientific revolutions
1.3 Psychology's need for a new paradigm
1.4 Models of Human Nature
1.5 What is a fact?
1.6 How facts are established within given models
What do you think?}
Chapter 2 What is Behavior? OR Chapters 2-5 of MAKING SENSE
{COMMENT To Bill, I can't see why you should update your chapters from IMP 1. I
went back to take another look at MAKING SENSE and it seems to be just what we
would want for this part. I don't know if you would pirate much of it for the text or, if we
followed Lloyd's idea to produce the text in modular form MAKING SENSE would
simply be the second module.
MODULE I (in a modular presentation)
.........................................................
PART 2
Chapter 3 Why Behavior is Control of Perception
We could have an "advanced" section for students interested in tackling it at a more technical
level, which I guess Bill could put together from any of various previous works. You might call
it The Basics of Behavior {Or however you want to label it, describing the equations, the
explanation of how you worked out the theory and then Exercises - using the demos on the CD,
followed by explanation of what they do and don't show about behavior in general. It would be
an update of IMP1 - ch 4, including demos from the old Demo 1 and 2 -- on the CD
Chapter 4 A Hierarchy of Control (WTP)
{COMMENT - I think there is room for an update of chapter 5 of IMP 1, to include
Rick's 3 level model, etc. on the CD. The fact that it somewhat repeats chapter 3 of
MAKING SENSE seems OK to me because it is more detailed and more useful as a base
for the re-interpretation of some of the traditional psychological material that will follow
later.
MODULE 2 (in a modular presentation)
........................................................
PART 3)
Chapter 5 Physiological Psychology -- Control Structures of the Organism
{COMMENT -I would use Ch 6 from IMP1, updated as much as possible with new
material from Isaak's work, Zocher's, additional evidence about hierarchical wiring in
CNS, etc. Or a new chapter by anyone who is more up to the minute with PCT physiol.}
Chapter 6 Why a Reorganizing System? {I did it in ch 7 of IMP1 -- Bill you might want to do it
and up date it this time, as the more advanced treatment of ch. 4 in MS }
Chapter 7 Learning: Increasing One's Control over the Environment (RJR)
{COMMENT- I'd like to try to update my chapter 8 from IMP 1, unless some other
author in our group would take it.}
Chapter 8 Developmental Psychology: Earlier Stage Theories and the Control
System Hierarchical Perspective (FXP) (Introduction: RJR)
{I hope we could get Franz to update his chapter}
MODULE 3
........................................................
PART 4 New Approach to Research in the Life Sciences
Chapter 9 Modeling Complex Behavior
{Little Man; Fielder etc., and explanation of what they demonstrate in terms of everyday
psychology (I'm not sure that's how I want to put it) I think we need some work on how
these demos show more about behavior than seems at first glance.}
Chapter 10 Why Correlations Don't Cut It (Phil)
{Or how you want to title it. Discussion of the 2 methods and to what each applies. And
then I think we ought to come right out and attack the spurious "facts" coming from much
of the current psychological literature. }
MODULE 4
...........................................
PART 5 Review of Traditional Subdisciplines in Psychology from Perspective of PCT
{Chapters 6-9 in Making Sense}
Chapter 11 Higher Order Control Systems: Personality Theory (RJR)
Chapter 12 Social Psychology (Kent?)
{Crowd demos; hopefully Tom's two person demos -- cooperation and competition
Group norms, social influence, social roles and structures looked at from PCT viewpoint}
Chapter 13 Social Psychology and Sociology (Kent)
{Power relationships, conformity, stereotyping and ....}
MODULE 5
...........................................
PART 6 Dependable Observations from Pre-scientific psychology - problems for future research
Chapter 14 Regularly reproducible psychological phenomena - in search of real explanations
Psychologists have described certain phenomena that can be reliably observed, such as optical
illusions, stereotyping, prejudice, imprinting, "conditioning," Ebbinghaus's work with nonsense
syllables, etc. (naming some of these at random). The phenomena are common enough and
reliable enough to have been sequestered under the various names noted above. However,
explanations of why they are facts are offered in terms of "experiments" that suffer the defects of
traditional research methods discussed above.
PCT explanations are often at least as plausible (once you accept PCT as a theoretical base) and
they have the advantage that if and when explanations of phenomena are proposed they are
proposed in testable form of models.
{COMMENT - I'd like to tackle this, and invite anyone else who would like to co-author}
Chapter 15. Traditional psychology research findings re-phrased in terms of HPCT -- the quest
for explanatory models
and/or Adumbration, similarity and partial parallels to PCT in traditional psychology
{Bruce Abbott ? }
MODULE 6
..............................................
PART 7 Areas of Application of PCT
Chapter 16. Education (Gary?)
Chapter 17. Applications in Elementary Education (Tom &/or ED)
Chapter 18. Clinical Psychology -- Transition of traditional methods to PCT oriented approaches
(David)
Chapter 19. The Method of Levels in Clinical Psychology (TIM)
MODULE 7
............................................................