[from Gary Cziko 940223.1540 GMT, in Champaign, Illinois, home of
speedskater Bonnie Blair, five-time Olympic gold-medal winner. I don't
know Bonnie, but I do know her older brother Chuck who didn't make it to
Lillehammer and who's been a bit excited over the last week or so.]
Mary Powers 940223 on feedback:
I got carried away by a dislike of the idea that other people
give or withhold feedback. If someone gives or withholds
information, does what you want or doesn't, you are getting
feedback either way - either the environment is cooperating with
you or it is creating a disturbance. It is not in the power of
another to turn feedback off or on - the loop is always closed
(unless perceptions are blocked).
Right, but a teacher or coach can supply or withhold certain types of
feedback. In fact, a large part of the teacher or coach's job is to figure
out what type of feedback will be most useful for the student or athlete.
But from the perspective of the teacher/coach, he or she is, of course,
just controlling his or her own perceptions with output that provides
feedback for the student/athlete.
Also, in my experience, people who blather about giving and
getting feedback tend to be the same ones who think positive
feedback is good and negative feedback is bad.
Seeing your comments here made me realize that the terms negative feedback
and positive feedback should probably be banned altogether. Feedback is
simply the effect of action on one's perception. There is nothing positive
or negative about it, is there? Of course we can have a positive or
negative feedback LOOP, which tells us whether the control system is
controlling its perception or driving it farther away from the reference
signal. But the feedback itself is neither positive or negative.
A father tells his son not to spend so much time playing basketball and
spend more time studying. The more he scolds his soon for playing hoops,
the more his soon plays (controlling for being independent of father).
This is a positive feedback LOOP (from the perspective of the father).
Then the father realizes that his son may be good enough to win a
basketball scholarship. But he surmises that if he tells his son of his
plans, the son might not be so keen to play basketball anymore (doesn't
want to go to college). So the father wisely keeps scolding the son (good
old reverse psychology, like in the Fantastiks) and the son keeps playing
more and more. Same action by the father. Same feedback from the soon.
But the father's new reference level (have son play lots of basketball) now
make it a negative feedback LOOP (again, from the perspective of the
father).
So it seems that it makes no sense to talk of positive or negative
feedback, but rather only of negative or positive feedback LOOPS.--Gary