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!
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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.
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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…
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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.
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International Association for Perceptual Control Theory
PCT is emerging as a force in robotics. PCT lends itself well to the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics because it provides an exact mathematical framework to model psychological processes. […]
Education is about more than teaching. Within education we need to know how to motivate students, how can we maximise the degree to which people learn, and often, how do we manage students or pupils when they don’t want to learn, or they disrupt others? […]
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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
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 […]
Richard S. Marken, and Timothy A. Carey Australian Academic Press (February 3, 2016) Book description “We need to strive for a world where people control what is important to themselves while minimizing the controlling of […]
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 […]
Richard S. Marken (2014) The core of the book are six papers by Dr. Richard S. Marken which have been published in peer reviewed journals over the past decade explaining why Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) […]
Timothy A. Carey “This new book is a great addition to the educational literature. It introduces educators to the most important and revolutionary new development in psychology in decades, PCT. And it does this in […]
Phil Runkel The spring semester is nearly half completed. I am using your book in two classes. My experience this year is identical to that last year., when I wrote to you, “As time passes […]
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).