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Quick guide to PCT

Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) has been around for over 50 years, leaving a trail of papers, books, websites, posts, conversations, videos all over the web. This is a quick guide to get started with the most basic materials: introductory texts, books, demonstrations, papers, websites and finding others interested in PCT. Welcome! [...]
PCT in 11 steps - introduction by Bill Powers

Control is a process of acting on the world we perceive to make it the way we want it to be, and to keep it that way. Examples of control: standing upright; walking; steering a car; scrambling eggs; scratching an itch; knitting socks; singing a tune. Extruding a pseudopod to absorb a nanospeck of food (all organisms control, not only human beings). The smallest organisms control by biochemical means, bigger ones by means of a nervous system. [...]
A simple introduction to PCT

A simple start… PCT stands for Perceptual Control Theory. Big words, eh? The ‘big idea’ behind PCT is simple but don’t be surprised if it takes a while to get your head around. This is it…. ‘Behaviour is the control of perception’ That’s it. Or more simply, we do things to get what we want – now that sounds too simple! Let’s take it a step at a time… [...]
Once around the loop

Elements of the control loop have been labeled slightly different by different people at different times and for different purposes, whether for a very plain explanation or for more mathematical treatment of the physical functions. Dag Forssell describes the elements of the control loop step by step, as an introduction to the basics of PCT. [...]

Newsletter

December 16, 2024

Welcome to the Control Loop – the IAPCT newsletter. This newsletter shares updates on the latest developments in Perceptual Control [...]
New website

April 23, 2022

We proudly present to you our new IAPCT website. This site is build in wordpress by Eva de Hullu and [...]

Stairs

Method of Levels

January 30, 2022

Method of Levels introductory text to follow

environment clouds

Environmental Stability

January 30, 2022

A comprehensive introduction to PCT and its implications for the social and physical environment, on a global scale, are described in an online article by Kent McClelland. There are also a number of online articles that relate […]

Psychology

January 30, 2022

In explaining how living things control their perception, PCT is clearly highly relevant to psychology. Contemporary articles are making the case to the wider establishment that closed-loop, circular causality is much closer to how living systems actually function than the approach researchers still use. […]

Economics & Marketing

To manage a successful business, you need to know what people want, how your business is perceived, and how to deal with people. It’s ripe for a PCT approach! […]

mental health

Interventions for Mental Health Problems

January 30, 2022

When people find themselves struggling control has been disrupted. It is the loss of control not control, therefore, that is the problem when people are psychologically distressed. […]

Biology and Neuroscience

Bill Powers developed PCT with biology in mind. We can split the relevance of PCT into two parts – function and structure. […]

Law

January 30, 2022

At present, the application of PCT to Law is at its early stages. Hugh Gibbons is one exception. He has co-authored a biological model of human rights based around the tenets of PCT and he also illustrates a case using PCT in this book, “The Death of Jeffrey Stapleton”, published online. […]

Film, Media & Literature

Spiritual truths, 21st Century Renaissance, Computer Games, Pop and Rock Music, & more! […]

Politics and Philosophy – a PCT introduction

January 30, 2022

PCT takes a strongly scientific approach to human nature. It proposes that people and other living systems are purposeful – and that the systems that are responsible for purposeful action are explainable in mechanistic terms. […]

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Approaches to a Science of Life. Word Pictures and Correlations versus Working Models

William T. Powers & Philip J. Runken Throughout this volume, Phil and Bill exchange candid assessments of the players, methods and dominant approaches in psychology and the social sciences, and the difficulties that go with […]

Patient-Perspective Care: A New Paradigm for Health Systems and Services

December 11, 2022

Timothy A. Carey Routledge; 1st edition (December 1, 2017) Book description Inappropriate health care is an escalating and expensive problem. It affects high income, middle income, and low income countries and wastes billions of dollars […]

The Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory, Volume II: Living in the Loop

Second volume of the Interdisciplinary Handbook of Perceptual Control Theory: Living in the Loop. Edited by Warren Mansell, Eva de Hullu, Vyv Huddy and Tom Scholte. Elsevier, 2023. […]

The Study of Living Control Systems

February 28, 2021

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).

Management and Leadership: Insight for Effective Practice

Dag Forssell “When i first learned of PCT about seven years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on and your articles, for me, most clearly explained PCT. Somehow, your unique use of […]

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

January 30, 2022

Edited by Warren Mansell First edition – May 16, 2020 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 […]

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