The Neglected Phenomenon of Negative Feedback Control

This intro to PCT is slanted toward those coming into to this subject from the physical sciences. Bill Powers develops an argument that leads from conventional views of behavior to the new view that PCT gives us, emphasizing in the end the odd role that organisms, seen through the eyes of PCT, play in a world otherwise dominated by physical laws. The point will be to show that control theory provides us with the germ of a radically new understanding, a break with all traditional theories of behavior—and many new ones as well […]

The Study of Living Control Systems, a handbook of research methodology in psychology by Richard S. Marken is available from Cambridge University Press and from booksellers (February 2021).

`‘EUREKA!’ Published on PCTweb 20th June 2011