Notation

[From Fred Nickols (991120.1530)] --

Rick Marken (991119.0740)]

Bruce Abbott (991118.1940 EST)

The environment is the neglected side of PCT

What? I think it's far more accurate to say that the
environment is the neglected side of conventional
psychology. Conventional psychology looks _only_ at
the effect of the environment on the organism (b = f(e);
behavior is a function of the environment)

Y'all know I will readily confess to being a dilettante -- in lots of
areas, not just PCT -- but I have spent a number of years digging around in
lots of psychology books and not once have I ever come across the
expression in the notation above. On numerous occasions, I have seen
b=f(i...e...), expressing the notion that behavior is a function of
individual and environmental variables.

So, Rick, can you point me to a source wherein the more limited version you
gave us is presented?

···

--

Fred Nickols
The Distance Consulting Company
"Assistance at A Distance"
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
nickols@worldnet.att.net
(609) 490-0095

[From Rick Marken (991121.1545)]

Fred Nickols (991120.1530) --

On numerous occasions, I have seen b=f(i...e...), expressing
the notion that behavior is a function of individual and
environmental variables.

So, Rick, can you point me to a source wherein the more
limited version you gave us is presented?

Most statistics books -- especially those that describe the
"general linear model" (there's a good old one by Mendenhall
that I had back in the late 60s; probably published in 1968)--
give the basic equation for behavior as

b = k1a1+k2a2...+knan+ e

This is a version of b = f(e) as is your (b = f(i..e..)).
The independent variables in these equations can include
environmental variables (like tone intensity), individual
variables (like sex, height, ethnic group, test scores, etc)
and "organismic" variables (like blood pressure). All of
these variables can be called "environmental" because they
are mathematically "outside" (and causally related to)
behavior (whose value is presumed to be "dependent" on the
values of these causal variables).

In control theory, the corresponding equation for behavior is:

p = f(r)

A perceptual variable (p) is the "dependent" (actually,
"controlled") variable; its value is dependent on a
variable (r) which is unobservable; a theoretical construct
called the reference signal (variable). So one of the main
goals of PCT research is to discover the function of
environmental variables, (a variable called qi, where
qi = g(e1, e2...en)), that corresponds to the variable p.

Best

Rick

···

--

Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken/