[From Rick Marken (2003.04.23.2200)]
To Bill Powers:
I was going over some old files and discovered your letter to the editor (of
_American Psychologist_ I believe) regarding Locke and Latham's article
entitled "Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task
motivation". In that letter you said: "I will participate in an orderly
discussion of the issues if Locke will, in a forum that gives us both fair
scope to make our cases. I will not sit by in silence while my life�s work is
put in disrepute for no better reason than ignorance. Perhaps the editor of
this journal could find a way to organize a proper discussion of these
matters". I wonder whether you actually sent the letter and, if so, whether
the editor replied.
On a related note, the _Journal of Applied Psychology_ issue with the Bandura
and Locke article criticizing control theory is now in the RAND library and I
copied it this afternoon. It still contains the quotes from your papers that
are mis-arranged so as to give the impression that PCT is nothing more than
radical behaviorism. It's like a terrorist attack on PCT. Then I noticed
that Bandura is at Stanford, which is where Lise will be starting in the
graduate PhD program in Communications/Media this Fall. Since this means that
I will be up a Stanford as much as I can over the next four years I was
wondering if you would like me to prepare a pre-emptive strike (using my
access to some F-15C simulators) to eliminate Bandura's WMD (Words of Mind-
boggling Dumbness). I'm sure I can get Jeff Vancouver (sounds British to me)
to join me in a coalition of the willful.
Best regards
Rick