[From Fred Nickols (2003.07.17.1452)] --
Rick's earlier posting about certification reminds me that I received an
email today pointing to a paper I've been working on about a PCT-based view
of human behavior and performance. I posted the first portion of that
paper here some time back and received some feedback. I also posted the
completed version of the entire article here but received no feedback. I
then posted the paper to the TRDEV (Training and Development) list on
yahoogroups (3,000+ members). The message below is from Don Clark, a
well-known and highly respected member of the training community. I find
it fascinating (and rewarding) that Don pointed out the distinction between
that and the closed loop model and its implications for the locus of
control. Not a big deal, really, but it's a step in the right
direction. One small step for PCT, a big step for the training community.
By the way, Don got the link URL wrong. He pointed people to my message
posting it, not to the paper itself. The URL for the paper is as follows:
http://home.att.net~nickols/controltheoryview.pdf
Regards,
Fred Nickols, UU
nickols@safe-t.net
P.S. "UU" stands for unlettered and unlicensed)
M E S S I N G ~ W I T H ~ M I N D S ~ A N D ~ H E A R T S
Jack Handley made an interesting comment:
> Folks, we are paid to train people to put marks on paper, to punch the
> right
> buttons, and to say certain phrases. We are not paid to mess with
> people's
> hearts and minds.
In an earlier post, Fred Nickols discusses Perceptual Control Theory
as articulated by William T. Powers. See:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trdev/message/13893
Fred's paper is quite good (thanks to Fred for introducing the
subject), so I encourage you to read it.
In his paper, Fred discusses the difference between behavior and
performance. What Jack describes above is behavior. But is our job
really to change behavior or to enable people to perform? For quite
some time the learning profession has followed the behavior
stimulus-response model, which is based upon Newtonian cause-effect
relationships. See figure 2:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/system/cause_effect.gif
However, this one-way causal chain leaves a lot of questions opened.
That is, it places all the control in the external environment and none
within the learner's internal system or self. The causal loop model or
circular causality model, see figure 3 in the above link, places most
of the control back within the learner. That is, while the learner is
influenced by the environment, the environment does not solely
determine the learner's performance. Rather, the learner's actions are
determined by what she senses (perceives) within the environment in
comparison with her goal (reference level).