[From Bill Powers (951004.0715 MDT)]
Dick Robertson (951003.1840 CDT) --
What a great post, Dick. This is really the angle that must be pursued
if we're to get beyond stick-wiggling and into high-level applications
of PCT. Now that I read your analysis, I'm wondering why we didn't go
after this approach more vigorously. You and David did all that work,
the results came out, they were published, and we sort of said "Wasn't
that nice? What shall we do next?" Right now, Brian D'Agostino seems to
be the only one showing any signs of wanting to do research of this
kind.
It seems clear, by the use of the word, `males,' that Brian is
looking at groups of people, not a group of individuals.
Therefore, by definition we are not dealing with control theory. I
assume you do not postulate a group of people as a living entitiy
that can control its perceptions or anything else.
This is beautifully put. PCT is a science of individual behavior. Once
you have characterized some individuals as control systems, you can go
on to see if they have anything in common about what they are
controlling and how. On this basis you might be able to sort them into
groups: people who seek goals that are similar. If those people work
together, make policy together, and so forth, then you have found
something of social importance that is connected to individual
characteristics. This method does not commit the sin of characterizing
individuals through population statistics.
RE your wonderful comments on self-control:
There is a person (not Mary) to whom I would like to say, "Your fear and
your anger create the physiological states that you experience as the
start of asthma. You get fearful about the asthma and angry at those you
think are triggering it off. The fear and the anger make the asthma
symptoms worse, and you become still more fearful and angry. You can
influence part of this cycle." I don't say it, of course, because saying
it would be taken as criticism, the criticism would be met with anger,
and an asthma attack might follow.
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Best,
Bill P.