William T. Powers

This article is about the psychology scholar. For the manufacturer, see William T. Powers (Michigan).

William T. Powers (August 29, 1926 – May 24, 2013) was an independent scholar of psychology theory who developed the perceptual control theory (PCT) model of behavior. PCT posits, and has been said to demonstrate,^[1] that living things do not control their behavior, but rather their behavioral outputs are the variable means by which they control their sensory inputs (perceptions). It suggests that in living systems the reference variable for each control loop in a control hierarchy is set from within the system. Powers and his students and colleagues in diverse fields have developed many demonstrations of negative feedback control, and computer models or simulations that replicate observed and measured behavior of living systems (human and animal, individuals and groups of individuals) with a very high degree of fidelity (0.95 or better).

Selected Bibliography

Powers, William T. (1973). Behavior: The control of perception. Chicago: Aldine de Gruyter. ISBN 0-202-25113-6. 2nd ed. (2005) New Canaan: Benchmark Publications. Chinese tr. (2004) Guongdong Higher Learning Education Press, Guangzhou, China. ISBN 7-5361-2996-3.
Powers, William T. (1989). Living control systems. [Selected papers 1960-1988.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 0-9647121-3-X.
Powers, William T. (1992). Living control systems II. [Selected papers 1959-1990.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications.
Powers, William T. (1998). Making sense of behavior: The meaning of control. New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 0-9647121-5-6
Powers, William T. (2008). Living Control Systems III: The fact of control. [Mathematical appendix by Dr. Richard Kennaway. Includes computer programs for the reader to demonstrate and experimentally test the theory.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 978-0-9647121-8-8.

External links

The Control Systems Group

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 112204969 ISNI: 0000 0001 1005 342X

Notes

↑ For example (among many), Marken, Richard S. (2001). "Controlled variables: psychology as the center fielder views it". American Journal of Psychology (University of Illinois Press) 114 (2): 259–281. doi:10.2307/1423517. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/1423517. |access-date= requires |url= (help), Marken, Richard S.; William T., Powers (1989), "Levels of intention in behavior", in Hershberger, Wayne, Volitional Action, Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., pp. 409–430, ISBN 978-0-444-88318-6 , and the interactive demonstrations in (Powers 2008)

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