The Study of Living Control Systems
eBook - PDF

The Study of Living Control Systems

A Guide to Doing Research on Purpose

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Study of Living Control Systems

A Guide to Doing Research on Purpose

About this book

This book is a guide to doing a new kind of psychological research that focuses on the purposes rather than the causes of behavior. The research methods described here are based on a theory of behaviour called Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) that views organisms as purposeful rather than mechanical systems. According to PCT, purposeful behaviour involves acting to control perceptual input variables. Thus, understanding the purposeful behaviour of living organisms is a matter of determining the perceptual variables they are controlling when they are carrying out various behaviors. This book outlines research methods that determine what perceptual variables an organism is controlling, how it controls those variables, and why. It also describes methods for studying how an organism develops the ability to control different perceptions and how consciousness might be involved in this process.

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Yes, you can access The Study of Living Control Systems by Richard S. Marken in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Psychology & Experimental Psychology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Endorsements
  4. Title page
  5. Copyright information
  6. Contents
  7. List of Figures
  8. List of Tables
  9. Preface
  10. 1. Living Control Systems
  11. 2. Doing Research on Purpose
  12. 3. Getting Started
  13. 4. Basic Research on Purpose
  14. 5. Exploring the Hierarchy
  15. 6. Learning
  16. 7. Social Control
  17. 8. Back to the Future (of PCT Research)
  18. Bibliography
  19. Index