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Feedback, Cybernetics and Sociology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

André Delobelle

Extract

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Feedback appears to be a fundamental characteristic of the phenomena of life. Elsewhere it only appears in man-made machines. These machines are always presented as being a meeting ground for laws immanent both in matter and in man. A new science has been created to study the applications of feedback: cybernetics. As feedback is closely related to questions concerning the transmission of information, cybernetics has rapidly given rise to a theory of information. The latter, with its applications, has taken on an absolutely essential role in our modern world wherever problems of administration occur.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 23 , Issue 91 , January 1975 , pp. 70 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

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2 See, for example, Norbert Wiener, Cybernetique et société. L'usage humain des êtres humains, Paris, Union Générale d'Editions, 1962, 252 p.; G.A.M. Vogelaar, Communicatie. Kernproces van de samenleving, Haarlem, Bohn, 1962, p. 96.

3 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., p. 12. Our italics.

4 For the difference between "adjustment" and "adaptation" see the corre sponding articles in Julius Gould, William L. Kolb (eds), A Dictionary of the Social Sciences, New York, The Free Press, 1964, pp. 8-10.

5 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., pp. 117-128.

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7 Colin Cherry, On human communication, New York, Science Edition, 1961, p. 57.

8 Colin Cherry, Op. cit., p. 57.

9 Colin Cherry, Op. cit., pp. 57-58.

10 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., pp. 39-40. Our italics.

11 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., p. 73. Our italics.

12 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., p. 75. Our italics.

13 Norbert Wiener, Op. cit., p. 75.

14 We speak of "structure" to indicate the internal order of a closed ensemble, and of " system " to indicate the interactional equilibrium in which this ensemble finds itself with its environment.

15 We have based this summary of the phenomenon of feedback on the exposition made by Bok, Op. cit., and in particular on pp. 22-67.

16 The cybernetic model invented by W. Ross Ashby (in Design for a brain, New York, Wiley and Sons, 1952), called a "Homeostat," which is capable of selecting types of responses, within certain limits by trial and error, until it returns to a stable equilibrium, does not, however, invalidate this conclusion.

17 S.T. Bok, Op. cit., pp. 233-241.

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44 See above, note 37.

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50 Dorwin Cartwright, Alvin Zander (eds), Group Dynamics. Research and Theory; London, Tavistock, 1953. Since then there have been two updated reeditions.

51 Didier Anzieu, Op. cit., pp. 169-188.

52 See above.

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58 Claude Flament, Réseaux de communication et structures de groupe, Paris, Dunod.

59 Anne-Marie Rocheblave-Spenle, La notion de rôle en psychologie sociale, Paris, P.U.F., 1962, passim. See in particular pp. 118-119.

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61 Quoted in Anne-Marie Rocheblave-Spenle, Op. cit., p. 67.

62 D. Anzieu, J.Y. Martin, Op. cit., p. 123.

63 D. Anzieu, J.Y. Martin, Op. cit., p. 126. Author's italics.

64 D. Anzieu, J.Y. Martin, Op. cit., pp. 127-129. Author's italics.

65 Theodore M. Newcomb, Ralph H. Turner, Philip E. Converse, Op. cit., pp. 157-184.

66 See also the experiments and investigations mentioned in A. Paul Hare, Op. cit., pp. 30-42.

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68 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, London, Tavistock, 1962, XII + 292 p.

69 Roger Muchielli (ed), Opinions et changements d'opinions, Paris, Editions Sociales Françaises, 1969, p. 60.

70 S.E. Feldman, J.K. Rich, "Tolerance for Unambiguous Feedback," in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 2, 1965, pp. 341-347.

71 Roger Muchielli (ed), Op. cit., p. 67.

72 H. Hyman, P. Sheatsley, " Some Reasons why Information Campaigns Fail," in Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. II, 1947, pp. 413-423. Quoted in Roger Muchielli (ed), Op. cit., p. 26.

73 D. Anzieu, J.Y. Martin, Op. cit., p. 129.

74 See, for example: Benjamin Lee Whorf, Linguistique et anthropologie, Translation, Paris, Denoël, 1969 (1956), 224 p.

75 Oswald Ducrot, Dire et ne pas dire. Principes de sémantique linguistique, Paris, Hermann, 1972, Régine Robin, Histoire et Linguistique, Paris, Colin, 1973, pp. 20-29.

76 Fritz Heider, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, New York, Wiley and Sons, 1958, X + 326 p.

77 Theodore M. Newcomb, "Varieties of Interpersonal Attraction," in Dorwin Cartwright, Alvin Zander (eds), Op. cit., pp. 104-119.

78 Muzafer Sherif, Carolyn W. Sherif, An Outline of Social Psychology, revised edition, New York, Harper and Row, 1956, pp. 249-262.

79 William S. Verplanck, "The Control of the Content of Conversation: Reinforcement of Statements of Opinion," in E.E. Maccoby, T.M. Newcomb, E.L. Hartley (eds), Op. cit., pp. 32-39.

80 George H. Mead, L'esprit, le soi et la société, translation, Paris, P.U.F., 1963.

81 Melvin L. De Fleur, Theories of Mass Communication, New York, David McKay, 1966, pp. 90-96.

82 D. Anzieu, J.Y. Martin, Op. cit., pp. 134-135.

83 F.W. Banghart, A.J. Bachrach, E.G. Pattishall, Ibid.

84 See above.

85 C. Flament, Op. cit., pp. 53-145.

86 See above.

87 Jurgen Ruesch, Weldon Kees, Nonverbal Communication. Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1972, (1956).

88 T.M. Newcomb, R.H. Turner, E. Converse, Op. cit., pp. 266-270.

89 Positivism made these two terms synonymous and then wrongly abandoned the second in favor of the first.

90 Dr. G.A.M. Vogelaar, Op. cit., pp. 67-81.

91 Alfred Kuhn, The Study of Society. A Multidisciplinary Approach, London, Tavistock Publications, 1966, pp. 258-259.

92 Colin Cherry, Op. cit., p. 216.

93 On the phases of decision see Alfred Kuhn, Op. cit., pp. 251-313.

94 Colin Cherry, Op. cit., p. 212.

95 See also the special number of Communications dedicated to the "évène ment," n. 18, 1972, 200 p.

96 Karl W. Deutsch, The Nerves of Government, New York, The Free Press, 1963. Theodore M. Mills, The Sociology of Small Groups, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1967, pp. 19-23.

97 Theodore M. Mills, Op. cit., p. 21.

98 Theodore M. Mills, Op. cit., p. 19, our italics.

99 Jean Piaget, "Remarques finales," in XXU, L'explication dans les sciences, Paris, Flammarion, 1973, pp. 215-232.

100 M.W. Pryer, B.M. Bass, "Some Effects of Feedback on Behavior in Groups," in Sociometry, vol. 22, 1959, pp. 56-63.

101 Alfred Kuhn, Op. cit., pp. 254-255.

102 Howard Becker, " Current Sacred-secular Theory and its Develapment," in Howard Becker, Alvin Boskoff (eds), Modern Sociological Theory in Continuity and Change, S.1., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1957, pp. 133-185.

103 Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Revised and enlarged edition, Glencoe, The Free Press, 1957, pp. 421-436, chapter XI.

104 Wilbur Schramm, Op. cit., p. 122.

105 Colin Cherry, Op. cit., pp. 212-216.

106 Prof. Dr. S.T. Bok, Op. cit., pp. 240-241.