Key Points
Behavior as a whole results from the operation
of many such [control] units at once. (p.70)
The entire hierarchy is organized around a single
concept: control by means of adjusting reference-
signals for lower-order systems. (p.78)
The simple structure I offer here appears to have
considerable explanatory power, but it should be
thought of as a preliminary sketch made for the
purpose of suggesting research that will lead to
further development of the model. (p.78)
The conjectures in the rest of this book will go
beyond what can be defended by experimental proof.
(p.78)
The hierarchy described here through chapter 13
is meant to cover only performance. (p.79)
None of what follows is intended to be a
representation of situations, influences,
relationships or interactions taking place in
a social milieu or any such externalized
imaginary locale. It is intended to describe
the organization that is responsible for such
representations. This is a model of a human
being, be he subject, experimenter, or theorist.
Leading Questions
1. Can you find a way to create a tactile sensation
of pressure on the palm of your hand?
I can create a tactile sense of pressure on the palm
of my hand in several ways but most involve placing
the palm of my hand on something (e.g., my knee or
the arm of my chair) and then pressing my hand against
it.
Can you create it without also creating sensations
of effort?
Just resting my hand on something will create a feeling
of pressure, with no effort beyond placing my hand there.
(I also asked my wife to put her hand on top of my mine
and press down, which transferred the effort to her.)
Can you create sensations of effort without producing
the sensation of pressure on the palm of the hand?
I can create all kinds of sensations of effort without
creating a sense of pressure on the palm of my hand (e.g.,
simply by tensing muscles or by pressing the ball of my
foot against the floor by shifting my weight and using
my leg to press down) but I don't know if that's what
you're after with this question.
Which perception is lower in the hierarchy?
I obviously don't understand because it seems to me
that they're at the same level, even after studying
the diagram on page 71. Effort and pressure are
both sensory inputs. Does the question pertain to
the reference perception for effort and for pressure
or to the perceived sensations of effort and pressure?
Again, based on page 71, it looks like pressure is
only an input at the lowest level. Effort has a
comparator that produces an error signal so I'll say
that pressure is lower than effort.
Does the relative ranking ever reverse?
I'm not sure I answered the one above so I'll no doubt
botch this one. Common sense tells me that pressure
is sometimes the factor of interest and that other times
effort is the factor of interest. In my own experience,
one can take precedence over the other. But, frankly,
I have no idea how that plays out in terms of the diagram
on page 71.
2. You have been captured by an alien monster, a
psychologist from Jupiter. In order to obtain oxygen
to go on breathing, you are required by him to solve
a certain number of algebraic equations every day.
Does this necessarily place breathing higher in your
own hierarchy than solving algebraic equations?
At the top of my hierarchy is killing this jerk from
Jupiter. Frankly, I don't see that anything in my
hierarchy has changed. An unwanted contingency
relationship has been introduced by the jerk from
Jupiter, so I have to do the damn algrebra equations
to get oxygen but, assuming it's available, I don't
know that my biological systems have been altered as
a result. I assume I still inhale and exhale and
that oxygen gets into the blood and so on, so the
lower order systems function as usual--assuming
there is oxygen to breathe. I guess this is a
long way of saying No.
3. You are driving a car. Can you name a disturbance
which in no way affects the car of its relationship to
the road, but still requires you to use the steering
wheel to correct it?
Sure, the jerk from Jupiter pulls in front of me
and I honk my horn to express my annoyance. However,
assuming I've escaped and am safely back home after
driving for hours and hours, my arms are probably
tired or tense and so I use the steering wheel to
place my arms in different positions so as to give
them a break. The "disturbance" in this case is
a sense of tiredness or soreness or somesuch. I'll
bet you had something else in mind...
4. Starting with the goal of buying a quart of ice
cream, can you construct a descending series of goals
ending with the goal of tensing a specific muscle to
a specific degree? For example: in order to buy ice
cream, I must go to a place that sells ice cream. In
order to go to a place that sells ice cream, I must...
Cutting to the chase as they say, I have to get up
off my duff and go out to the car. I think there are
some muscles involved in that...
5. A fever results from a rise in the brain's reference
level for sensed body temperature. How does this explain
the chill that goes with a fever?
Presumably, with an increased reference level for sensed
body temperature (and assuming a constant temperature for
the outside air) the outside air would feel cooler. (As
you can tell, I failed biology.)
One may feel either hot or cold. Which feeling would
go with a rising reference level, and which with a falling
reference level?
Okay, I'll bite. Assuming we're still talking about the
reference level for sensed body temperature, feeling cold
would go with a rising reference level and feeling hot
would go with a falling one.
What could be altering that reference level?
How about the flu, a viral infection, some other system
resetting 98.6 to a higher number, or possibly that jerk
from Jupiter is performing biological experiments, too.
6. How is wanting something related to reference levels
for perceptions? How can a person stop wanting something
he wants?
I think wanting something relates to reference levels that
aren't being met, to being in what some call a "deprived"
state. One way to stop wanting something is to reset the
reference perception to a level that matches what exists,
as Aesop's fox did with the grapes and as human beings
have done for thousands of years when they discover that
their reach exceeds their grasp. Another way to stop
"wanting" something is to get it, to be in another state
that some call "satiated." Of course, this requires a
maintenance mode, unless what you want is to be dead.
You only have to achieve that state once. Everything
else tends to come around again.
I have this terrible sense that I'm going to get an "F"
on this chapter.
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
nickols@worldnet.att.net
(609) 490-0095