The Psychologist As Systems Analyst

The Software of the Mind

The human biocontroller is exquisitely programmable, with four hypothesized primary programming processes or languages, as well as two special methods of adaptation that occur during the development of the organism over the life span.

Children certainly learn much as they grow, but something else happens during development that is quite different from learning:

 q       Installation - in early development, there are critical periods (Scott, Stewart & DeGhett, 1974) when certain experiences set reference levels for the Control Modes. This is somewhat like setting the desired temperature on a thermostat. These events establish species recognition, sexual preferences, language function and the like. Examples of this are imprinting phenomena, the domestication of kittens exposed to humans in the fifth week of life and the acquisition of language from ages three to five in humans.

 q       Expansion - at birth, many systems in the brain are not turned on. Over the course of development, various systems are activated, giving rise to new capabilities. Simple examples are sitting up, walking and toilet training. Until a child is maturationally ready, they cannot learn to do these behaviors because they lack the hardware. Late maturation of certain brain systems may be a common cause of learning disorders in children. An example of this process occurs during adolescence, when the brain's capacity for abstract thought is hypothesized to be turned on, as are aspects of the Courtship Control Mode. Physiological processes such as dendritic arborization, myelinization of axons and hormonal activation (Grossman, 1973) provide the hardware changes involved in expansion.

 Installation and Expansion produce profound changes in the functioning of the biocontroller with very different characteristics than learning. The developmental changes in cognition described by Piaget (1970) may be largely expansion phenomena resulting from the activation of various major systems. Learning itself also changes behavior, but not as permanently. In my view, this has to do largely with the programming of the biocontroller, with changes in software.

 As there are different languages for computers, the biocontroller also has various methods of programming. Four distinct types are hypothesized:

 q       Parameter Adjustment - the pattern of behavior produced by each Control Mode is continually being adjusted by input from the environment. These systems are goal directed, controlling input to achieve the reference level of that system. Parameter Adjustment corresponds to classical or Pavlovian conditioning.

 q       Mode Sequencing - One Control Mode is producing behavior at any one time, but over time, we shift from one Mode to another. When a shift occurs, whatever parameters were set in the preceding Mode are saved. Thus, a Mode shift stores whatever programs were written in that Mode prior to the shift. If no shift occurs, new parameters will overwrite previous ones. This shifting process is also programmable, giving rise to operant or Skinnerian conditioning. Thus, reinforcers are stimuli that produce a Mode shift.

 q       Symbolic Software - the first two programming languages of the biocontroller operate at the middle level of the brain, while Symbolic Software results from operations at the topmost level. Symbolic Software is a type of thought, but not like thinking about something. That kind of thought comes from the computational processes organized by Symbolic Software. Rather, Symbolic Software is what Vygotsky (1962) called self-regulatory language, or what others refer to as self-talk or automatic thoughts. Cognitive psychotherapy primarily operates through changing symbolic programs and underlying metaprograms (Lilly, 1967), or irrational beliefs (Ellis, 1962).

 q       Interlock Processes - When two or more people interact, there is a coupling or synchronization of various systems of their biocontrollers, or interlock, establishing a network. Language itself arises from this network, not solely in each individual. There is a body of evidence showing the hypothesized synchronization of behavior between individuals (Condon, 1974; Tannen, 1986). Interlocks vary as a function of what processes are coupled, how deeply they are synchronized and whether they are stable in depth or not. For example, falling in love occurs when two people have an unstable interlock of their Courtship Modes increasing in depth. This occurs when appropriate releasing signals reciprocally unlock more intimate aspects of courtship. The network created by interlock processes may be the system in family systems theory. It may be fruitful to consider networks as higher order organizations, or metaorganisms, a conception similar to the superorganisms of sociobiology (Wilson, 1975).

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