Content deleted Content added
m →History: Fixing links to disambiguation pages |
Changing short description from "Psychological theory differing from Behaviorist and Cognitive behavior control frameworks." to "Psychological theory" |
||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Psychological theory
'''Perceptual control theory''' ('''PCT''') is a model of [[behavior]] based on the properties of [[negative feedback]] control loops. A control loop maintains a sensed variable at or near a reference value by means of the effects of its outputs upon that variable, as mediated by physical properties of the environment. In [[Control theory|engineering control theory]], reference values are set by a user outside the system. An example is a thermostat. In a living organism, reference values for controlled perceptual variables are endogenously maintained. Biological [[homeostasis]] and [[reflex]]es are simple, low-level examples. The discovery of mathematical principles of control introduced a way to model a negative feedback loop closed through the environment (circular causation), which spawned perceptual control theory. It differs fundamentally from some models in [[Behavioral psychology|behavioral]] and [[cognitive psychology]] that model [[Stimulus (psychology)|stimuli]] as causes of behavior (linear causation). PCT research is published in [[experimental psychology]], [[neuroscience]], [[ethology]], [[anthropology]], [[linguistics]], [[sociology]], [[robotics]], [[developmental psychology]], [[organizational psychology]] and management, and a number of other fields. PCT has been applied to design and administration of educational systems, and has led to a psychotherapy called the [[method of levels]].
| |||