AbstractThe concepts of feedback and systems analysis are compatible with a control system model of human behavior. Control theory can contribute a model of the individual for use in larger models of social systems, in which more general feedback phenomena can be found. A review of the properties of control systems shows that they act to make their own input match internal standards or reference signals.Competent control systems create illusions of stimulus‐response causality. While stimulus‐response theory can approximate the relationship between disturbance and action, it is unable to predict the consequences of behavior. Control theory shows how consequences are maintained despite disturbances.A control theory view of individual human behavior is applicable in all sciences that deal with social systems—not as a metaphor for social control systems but as a description of the properties of the individuals who generate social phen
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