The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory: Living Control Systems IV

The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory brings together the latest research, theory, and applications from W. T. Powers’ Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) that proposes that the behavior of a living organism lies in the control of perceived aspects of both itself and its environment. Sections cover theory, the application of PCT to a broad range of disciplines, why perceptual control is fundamental to understanding human nature, a new way to do research on brain processes and behavior, how the role of natural selection in behavior can be demystified, how engineers can emulate human purposeful behavior in robots, and much more.

Each chapter includes an author biography to set the context of their work within the development of PCT.

Presents case studies that show how PCT can be applied in different disciplinesIllustrates the Test for the Controlled Variable (TCV) and the construction of functional models as fruitful alternatives to mainstream experimental design when studying behaviorShows how theory illuminates structure and functions in brain anatomyCompares and contrasts PCT with other contemporary, interdisciplinary theories

Part I

Why do we need perceptual control theory?

1. The world according to PCT

2. Understanding purposeful systems: the application

of control theory in engineering and psychology

3. The crisis in neuroscience

4. When causation does not imply correlation: robust

violations of the faithfulness axiom

Part II

Models of brain and behavior

5. Unraveling the dynamics of dyadic interactions:

perceptual control in animal contests

6. How the brain gets a roaring campfire: Structuring

for Perceptual Results

7. How the brain gets a roaring campfire: input and

output functions

8. The phylogeny, ontogeny, causation and function of

regression periods explained by reorganizations of the

hierarchy of perceptual control systems

Part III

Collective control and communication

9. Social structure and control: perceptual control theory

and the science of sociology

10. Perceptual control in cooperative interaction

11. Language and thought as control of perception

Part IV

Applications

12. Perceptions of control theory in

industrial-organizational psychology: disturbances

and counter-disturbances

13. Method of Levels Therapy

14. Robotics in the real world: the perceptual control

theory approach

15. PCT and beyond: toward a computational framework

for ‘intelligent’ communicative systems

Part V

Synthesis

16. Ten vital elements of perceptual control theory,

tracing the pathway from implicit influence to

scientific advance