[From Audra Wenzlow (92.12.02)]
Rick Marken --
The notion of "controlling perceptions" has always disturbed me
precisely because it does not include the reference signal in its
description.
If, however, we watched a perceptual signal and its reference speci-
fication, the behavior would be far more interesting -- the percpetion
would track rather precisly the any variations in the value of
the reference;
It seems to me that what you are saying is that we control the difference
between the perception and the reference -- which is exactly what I
mean by controlling error. Without a reference setting, controlling a
perception would have no meaning.
For instance, in the rubber band experiment, I don't really care where
the knot is, only how far I perceive it to be from the reference point.
In other words, I am not controlling my perception, but the difference
between my perception and my reference level. The fact that controlling
occurs relative to some reference setting is precisely what seems to be
disregarded when we say that we "control our perceptions."
I understand that how I see this error is also a perception, but the
distinction between "the perception of how far away my perceptions are
(I had to read that over again a few times as well.)
By controlling the difference (or error), we automatically seem to be
controlling our perceptions, because the error is a function of only this
perception and the reference level. If you control the error -- you control
the perception, but not purposively. So in the rubber band example, the
person seems to be controlling for "where" the knot is, but is truly
controlling for how far away the knot is from his/her reference.
I agree that it is necessary to stress the notion of "perception" vs.
objective reality in PCT. However, talking about "controlling perceptions"
seems similar to talking about controlling others -- it is displacing where
the actual purposive control occurs (or only telling part of the
story).
Sorry about the trouble -- only trying to control my errors.
Audra Wenzlow
[ Background info:
I am a graduate student in Educational Policy Studies at the UofI. My
background is in statistics. I am in one of Gary Cziko's classes and am
also sitting in on one taught by Clark McPhail. I have been listening to
the net most of this fall semester.]
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from my reference signal," and my perceptions themselves should be made.