[From Chris Cherpas (970826.1105 PT)]
Rick Marken (970826.0850) --
I have long felt that the best way to promulgate PCT is to publish
tons of papers describing demonstrations of the _phenomena_ of control.
I think you have to consider the tremendous impact applications can have.
Whether you believe in the long-term efficacy or theoretical underpinnings,
Skinnerians led the way to various forms of therapy, programmed instruction,
certain management techniques, and most obviously a way to work with
retardates and autistics. Now, the test of a science can hardly be whether
it scales up to applications the minute it gets started, but PCT's been
around a while now, while "APCT" (Applied PCT) is seemingly limited at
this point in time (correct me if I'm wrong).
But on a lighter note:
Bill's recent primer made me think that a pop psych/self-improvement book
might be a really good PCT investment. Think about, nobody REALLY wanted to
give up purpose, let alone introspection. There's a lot of interest out there
in self-control, a perfect kind of topic. I recently went through some of those
later chapters in Intro to Modern Psych and was impressed with how easily PCT
could accommodate current cognitive-behavioral therapies and self-improvement
programs that I've read about; however, the book is meant to be a college text
and seems a bit uneven (multiple authors doesn't fit the pop best seller
profile) to launch the APCT wave. Once the pop book becomes a bestseller,
you could get all kinds of serious people wanted to do more technincally
deep applications.
Just to "prove" my point:
My wife the shrink has been considering something called the "enneagram"
as an aid to diagnosis (apparently, patients are always bringing
the latest self-improvement books into her office and she likes to understand
these). I read the book and was amazed at how clearly the nine personality
types or fixations were expressed in terms of opposing disturbances to nine ways
of perceiving. Of course, one obvious question is why (ennea = nine) nine?
If this were just another numerological cult thing, PCT probably might not
have much to say about it that would preserve the mapping to their system
(except maybe why people like numerological explanations). On the other
hand, perhaps there are only so many ways that "personalities" can stabilize,
that certain combinations of higher-order perceptions are simply too unstable
to settle into the organizations of controlled perceptions that are called
"personality." Anyway, I feel justified in pushing for a true PCT pop classic.
But back to the main point: make up a name, like "Bill Powers" (this sounds
like somebody who's probably really into the _powers_ of controlling one's
perceptions) and write the ultimate self-help book! Science, schmience.
Wait. One more spin: Bill _and_ Mary Powers would be perfect. A book
on self-improvement written by a couple is marketing dynamite! With
the extra cash you could open the PCT Institute, start a grad program,
merge with Microsoft... (And the thing is, I'm not so sure I'm kidding).
Best regards,
cc