The nature of behavior: Control as fact and theory

Failure to understand the nature of control has hindered efforts to apply control theory in the behavioral sciences. Control theory was developed to explain the phenomenon of control, which involves the production of consistent results in the face of environmental disturbance. Comparison of a quantitative description of the phenomenon of control with a physical analysis of behavior shows that the events referred to as behavior always involve control. The appearance of behavior as programmed output or response to stimulation is shown to be a consequence of ignoring two fundamental characteristics of control—reference states and disturbance resistance. The recognition of behavior as control requires a new approach to psychological research that emphasizes the discovery of controlled variables. This paper deals with living and non-living systems; the emphasis is on living systems at the individual (organism) level.