Cognition and Control

[From Rick Marken (920901.1430)]

I have a new question, particularly for those who support
some version of "cognitive psychology". It is related to the
recent discussion of behavior manipulation. The question is:

What does cognitive psychology have to say about the control
of behavior?

As far as I can tell, behavior control does not seem to be
much of an issue for cognitive psychologists. Why? There are
some cognitivists who have spoken to this issue. Chomsky,
for example, seems to think it's possible but not nice to do.
Neisser seems to think it is impossible because people are
too smart. I don't know if AI types deal with the issue at
all, though they seem to believe in "reinforcement" (see Minsky's
"Society of Mind"). So what is the cognitive (or, in general, the
"non-behavioristic") position on control of behavior? Can the behavior
of an organism (viewed as a "cognitive" system) be controlled? Why or
why not? Please, when answering this question, assume that "control"
means "to bring behavior to a state selected by the controller
and to maintain it in that state against disturbance".

I would really like an answer to this. I think this discussion
could help us articulate the difference between cognitive and PCT
views of behavior. I, of course, would also love to see how an
interactionist deals with this topic (control of behavior). What
do interactionists say about shaping and operant control?

Thanks

Rick

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Richard S. Marken USMail: 10459 Holman Ave
The Aerospace Corporation Los Angeles, CA 90024
E-mail: marken@aero.org
(310) 336-6214 (day)
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