[From Bill Powers (971218.1501 MST)]
CSGers, I think there is a PR message in the air to which we need to pay
attention. This message is heard whenever there seems to be some dispute
between PCT and other ways of understanding and dealing with human beings.
It comes in parts, but they're all parts of the same message.
1. There is nothing wrong with the way my colleagues and I go about our
business.
2. The profession of which I am a member has been making progress for many
years and has discovered many facts of substantial and lasting value.
3. Nobody in my field has ever acted but from the highest motives and with
the interests of others in mind.
4. It is not possible that all my mentors, teachers, and role models have
been mistaken about their approach to understanding human nature in any
important ways.
5. If PCT has anything to offer my profession, it is only as an extension
of what we already know to be the right methods and theories.
6. Criticisms of my field of knowledge can come only from personal motives
and misunderstandings; if critics truly understood how we reason in my
field, they would have nothing left to criticize.
I'm sure this list of points could be expanded, but we all can recognize
the familiar message.
So what to do when we hear it? Should we argue with it, and try to prove
logically that there is something wrong with it? Pile up evidence to show
it is wrong? Get angry about it and try to force someone to change his or
her mind? Put on demos and experiments that refute the "facts" so firmly
presented and believed?
We've all tried these things, and the one conclusion I think we would have
to agree with is that none of them works. Nobody has ever changed his or
her mind about either PCT or other theories of behavior because of any of
these attempts to persuade toward PCT or argue against other approaches.
People who come into PCT may have protested and argued, but in the end they
were persuaded by only one thing: learning the details of PCT. They have
done the persuading themselves, because they were willing to do it.
Of course I'm admonishing myself -- you've heard me doing that before, and
have seen me falling off the wagon more than once. But I keep trying to
climb back on, and hope that others will help keep me to my resolutions. In
a culture in which winning is everything and being right is the ultimate
claim to fame, it's hard to pick a different course and stick to it.
What do we say when we get that message? I think the best thing to say is
"That's nice. Now can we talk about PCT?"
So that's what I am going to say from now on, at least until my resolution
wavers again, with respect to all the arguments currently pending.
You say that drugs can cure mental illnesses? You say that reinforcement
causes behavior to change? You say that statistical measures apply to
individuals? You say that people control by running predictive models in
their heads? You say that electroconvulsive shock can fix depression?
That's nice. Now can we get back to talking about PCT?
Best,
Bill P.