Newsgroups: bit.listserv.csg-l
Date:         Mon, 28 Sep 1992 12:15:00 GMT
From:         Hortideas Publishing <0004972767@MCIMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Arm (to B.P.); Influence Summary

From Greg Williams (920928)

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Attn. Bill Powers: Getting photos made sounds OK. I just hope they're in the
$20 range, not the $100 range! I'll work on the paper corrections today and
get them to you this week. I assume that you'll print out the figure captions
yourself.

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In the belief that what Gregory Bateson has termed "double description" might
be usefully applied to our discussion on "influence," I offer the following
TENTATIVE summary, to be compared and contrasted with Bill's summary (which I
have not yet read). MULTIPLE description might be even more useful. I hope
others will provide comments on, corrections to, and elaborations of both the
following and Bill's summary.

Because labeling/terminology has proven problematic in this discussion --
unnecessarily so, I believe -- in the following, I have tried to avoid all
interpretive wording which relates PCT ideas to folk and sociological terms
(such as "influence," "manipulation," "exploitation," "facilitation,"
"domination," and "aggression"). This doesn't mean that I don't think that
defining (at least some of the) conventional terms in PCT terms is an
important undertaking. But that remains for the future.

An aside: What's going on in HYPNOSIS in PCT terms???

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ACCORDING TO PCT, HOW ONE PERSON (A) MIGHT CONTROL FOR HIS/HER PERCEPTIONS
THAT DEPEND ON ANOTHER PERSON (B) ACTING IN CERTAIN WAYS

(The "might" is significant. PCT says that the following methods are possible
in theory, but extra-PCT considerations might make any one of them difficult
or even impossible in certain cases.)

1. A disturbs particular perceptions being controlled by B so that B
compensates for the disturbances with actions which A wants to perceive.

2. A arranges B's environment so that when B controls for particular
perceptions, A perceives what he/she wants to perceive.

3. A arranges B's environment so as to trigger learning/reorganization in B's
control system resulting in actions which A wants to perceive.

4. A applies physical constraints or threatens to apply physical constraints
to B so that B's actions are as A wants to perceive.

5. Combinations of the above.

No other methods are possible.

In methods 1 and 2, B's control system functioning is not conflicted; in
methods 3 and 4, it is conflicted.

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ACCORDING TO PCT, WHAT AN ORGANISM'S CURRENT CONTROLLING DEPENDS ON

1. Current operation of an organism's control system (not undergoing
learning/reorganization) is a function of current reference signals, current
input/output functions, and current environmental disturbances.

2. Current reference signals and current input/output functions are functions
of the path of the most recent bout of learning/reorganization.

3. Onset of learning/reorganization at a particular time is a function of
reference signals, input/output functions, and environmental disturbances at
that time.

4. The path of learning/reorganization is a function of (possibly randomly
generated) successive sets of changes in reference signals and/or input/output
functions, each successive set of changes being made to the result of the
previous set of changes, and another set of changes being made only if certain
criteria are not met for ceasing learning/reorganization.

5. Whether or not the criteria for ceasing learning/reorganization are met by
the reference signals and/or input/output functions at any point on the path
of learning/reorganization is a function of reference signals, input/output
functions, and environmental disturbances at that point.

(Note: Here it is assumed that memories of environmental disturbances count as
environmental disturbances, so that, for example, the disturbance of being
called a "pig" would, as a memory, continue to act as a disturbance perhaps
for a long time after the sound waves had dissipated, with similar results as
if "pig" were being repeated over and over again by the disturber.)

6. At any time, the criteria for ceasing learning/reorganization are functions
of reference signals and input/output functions at that time.

Best wishes,

Greg
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU