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Tag: Behaviorism

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Mar 06, 2017
ssc
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25 min 3,846 words 164 comments
Scott reviews Will Powers' book on Perceptual Control Theory, finding it convincing for explaining lower-level brain functions but skeptical of its application to higher-level concepts. Longer summary
This post reviews the book 'Behavior: The Control Of Perception' by Will Powers, which presents Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) as a paradigm for understanding human behavior and brain function. The review explains how PCT views the brain as a hierarchy of control systems, from low-level muscle control to high-level abstract concepts. The author finds the theory convincing for lower-level systems but becomes skeptical of its application to higher-level concepts. The review discusses the theory's strengths in explaining certain brain functions and its historical context as a response to Behaviorism, while also pointing out its limitations and potential unfalsifiability at higher levels. Shorter summary