Proposed Adolescence Health and Youth Development Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Concept Development

Sachintya Rajapakse

Human Behaviour and Perception

We develop our personal beliefs about Through the window of these beliefs, reality based on how we interpret we try to make sense out of the things the world around us according to our going on around us. We also use them to observations and experiences collected form assumptions about probable future from the day we were born. Because results. these beliefs are based on our evaluation and emotional conclusions of our Once established, beliefs are accepted as personal experiences, they are accepted fact and are rarely subject to inspection. by our subconscious as being absolutely They become our personal operating true. Our subconscious mind then uses system. Everything we see, experience, these personal truths to construct think and feel is adjusted to fit with our our personal version of the real world. beliefs. Our personal operating system disassembles Types of Control and reassembles all input In other words, our beliefs become the foundation of our internal map data to conform to what we believe.

of reality which is essentially our We may or may not have control over perception which then ultimatelyGovernment the events in our life but we Control bycan take determines how you respond to and control Mainstream Social Control of how to respond to them and Individuals Control events. that part of life will always be within
our power.

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are - Talmud

We Act and Think We Act according and Think We to Act according and Think toaccording to

CHOICES we CHOICES make. Those we CHOICES make. Those we make. Those

affect our feelings affect and our feelings affect and our feelings Needs areand chosen Needsaccording are chosen Needsaccording are chosen according physiology. physiology. physiology. to PRIORITIES. to PRIORITIES. to PRIORITIES. Survival Survival Survival Belonging Belonging Belonging Power Power Power Freedom Freedom Freedom

Every human Every action human Every is intended action human is intended action is intended to change to the change current to the change current the current perception perception experiencing perception experiencing to the experiencing to the to the preferredpreferred level. preferred level. level.

BEHAVIOUR BEHAVIOUR BEHAVIOUR

CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL OF OF OF PERCEPTION PERCEPTION PERCEPTION When perception When perception When perception
PERCEPTION PERCEPTION PERCEPTION
is under control, is under control, is under control, we do nothing. we do nothing. we do nothing.

Depending on Depending how our senses on Depending how and ourmind senses on how and ourmind senses and mind examine theexamine world around theexamine world us, aaround the world us, aaround us, a

PREFERRED PREFERRED LEVEL PREFERRED is established. LEVEL is established. LEVEL is established.

We Act and Think We Act according and Think toaccording to

WHAT WE WHAT PERCEIVE WE WHAT PERCEIVE WE PERCEIVE VS VS VS WHAT WE WHAT PREFER WE TO PREFER PERCEIVE TO PERCEIVE WHAT WE PREFER TO PERCEIVE

NEEDS

PRIORITIES

We cant satisfy all our needs all the time, we may

CHOICES OFF OUR NEEDS ACCORDING TO OUR PRIORITIES AND MAKE SACRIFICES.
CONTROL OF PERCEPTION ENVIRONMENT

have to MAKE

Even though we need to control the perception, our

ACTIONS DEPEND ON THE POSSIBILITIES PRESENT IN THE ENVIRONMENT thus sometimes we may not
have any choice but to accept what we perceive.

New Perception and Beyond

When our perception of the world validates our beliefs, we feel secure in the fact that our view is the correct one, but as we learn and grow, many of our former beliefs will no longer serve us and our beliefs need to be adjusted from time to time. sense of adventure, we also need to avoid the trap of too many precise boundaries and preconceived ideas.

Living beyond the map does not mean that we dont have a map. It means that we choose to discover the details along the way, If our internal map of reality is built on limiting rather than try to fill them in ahead of time. beliefs, life becomes a great big negative It means approaching situations, people, and reinforcement loop. When we systematically experiences with a sense of open curiosity. It dismantle our limiting beliefs, and replace them means that we look for the treasures that are with empowering beliefs, the topography of unfolding with each new day. our map will conform. When we are truly empowered by our beliefs, In order to create a new map that serves us, we life gets simpler. We tend to let go of judgments need to identify our current beliefs and figure and expectations, and replace them with out which ones need an upgrade. Any area in compassion and curiosity. our life where we are producing good results is probably anchored to an empowering belief, likewise, any area in our life that is plagued with unsatisfactory or frustrating results is likely anchored to a limiting belief. Adopting these new empowering beliefs will change the results we produce. In turn, being alert to those changes will help reinforce and validate our new beliefs. Soon, our new beliefs will be totally accepted into our subconscious and be reflected in our new internal map of reality. We need our empowering beliefs to keep us headed in the right direction. To maintain our

Consider a time in history before Christopher Columbus discovered America. The world was thought to be flat and it was believed that travel was a dangerous thing as if one ventured too far he would drop off the edge of the world. Columbus discovered the world was not flat but round. The world did not change, perception did.

Control
Types of Control
invariably meant to prevent certain behaviour from occurring. People are pressured towards a moral ideal by the legal system taught to them by adults during their own childhoods. Control by Deception is necessary and beneficial if it is for the right reasons. In an extreme situation where the public will not willingly do what they must do to prevent a disaster, manipulation by deception is necessary and right. When an impending conflict of catastrophe is about to occur, a government should induce calm, cautious behavior by hiding the true nature of the event from the public in order to avoid panic. Control and persuasion is moral and destructive when the goal is not the good of the people but personal or political interests. When a government has far more power than it ever had before, large propaganda campaigns and other psychological techniques are used to control, manipulate and predict the behaviours of a whole society.

Social Control

Government and Mainstream Control

Control by Individuals

Social Control

The social values present in individuals areTypes products informal social of of Control control exercised by a society through particular customs, norms, and traditions. Traditional society relies mostly on informal social control embedded in its customary culture to socialize its members. Informal WE THINK WE LIVE in a democracy, which is the type of society in which sanctions may include shame, ridicule, sarcasm,Government criticism, and disapproval, ultimate power lies with the people and our leaders are supposed to which can cause an Social individual to stray towards social norms of the Control by andthe Mainstream Control be our servants accountable to the people and fulfilling the wishes society. In extreme cases sanctions may include social discrimination and Individuals Control of the people and making decisions for the greater good of all, but exclusion. Informal social control usually has more effect on individuals we are controlled. News stories or opinions which are anti-capitalist, because the social values become internalized, thus becoming an aspect anti-nationalistic or anti-government are far less likely to make it into of the individuals personality. print or be covered by television than those that support capitalism, Government Control nationalism and our present governments, reporters who do not agree with the media owners opinions are likely to find themselves The entire legal system is an attempt to control and manipulate the quickly out of the job, but as government politicians are friends with behavior of the governed people. Laws through several routes are former politicians often sitting on the boards of large companies, the

business community is able to unduly and undemocratically influence the legal system towards a corporate and controlled state are major examples.

Control by Individuals
We are controlled by our senior partners at work, department heads, managers, teachers, parents, lecturers, group leaders from the childhood for our own good, but when we grow up and reach to higher places, we may be controlled by our own friends for their own personal interest.

Immoral Controlling
Methods of Controlling

The monetary, credit, and banking systems can be controlled to inflate the currency and make it next to impossible for wage earners to accumulate capital and periodic deflation to collapse the family businesses, family farms, and entrepreneurs, including independent community banks. Control through debt also applies to nations where it is used ruthlessly by the developed countries to enslave undeveloped countries and steal their resources.

Controlling Choices

Deception

Changing Perception

Deception
Targets are controlled by manipulating their emotions by getting inside their minds by building a false sense of security with them or by any necessary deceitful tactic according to the situation.

Controlling Choices
Characteristics within the targets which make them vulnerable to control and manipulate such as naivety, over conscientiousness, low self confidence and assertiveness, over intellectualization etc are properly analysed by the controllers.

People like to have our views reaffirmed, therefore by telling the target what they want to hear, they can be controlled. Once you know what it is they genuinely want to hear from you, the conversation can be gently guided so that you get opportunities to demonstrate that you know what they need. The control of language and the elimination of The entire world is controlled by fear. Its perhaps the single most selected vocabulary and important: specially jargons (Words that mean powerful emotion in human beings and fear comes in many different something different than in usual conversation) as we accept it without forms: fear of violence, destitution, disapproval, ridicule, change etc. The much thought. fact is, fear is natural and its instilled in all of us from childhood. Fear can be used to keep people mentally enslaved. It will either be their way, or By feeding the targets desires, you can influence their actions. Giving the other way which is always made to seem much worse than it actually them what they want may allow you to persuade them and they act is. Fear can also be a factor to influence your thoughts and deeds. People accordingly to what their heart and mind deeply desires as desires are will follow anyone or anything and even break rules because of the fear of losing something or someone or fear of being punished. These fears strip Motivations behind Controlling us from our own control making us weak and suppressed. The need to advance their own purposes and personal gain at Insulting targets is used by government, corporate and other fascist virtually any cost to others. representatives who have been presented with undeniable facts for their The strong need to attain feelings of power and superiority in wrongdoing against the people. Sometimes physical intimidation is used relationships with others. as a part of insult to control targets. The need to feel in control. Sometimes mainstreams are so powerful, no matter what you do or say it The desire to gain a feeling of power over others in order to raise their perception of self esteem. wont make any effect, therefore you are forced to do nothing but wonder.

deep cravings or longing for something that brings forth satisfaction. These Televisions networks, electronic printing presses, satellites, computers can be used to trigger certain actions or thoughts that we may not be able and the internet have made information flow and processing faster, to do without the right bait. easier, cheaper and far reaching. Whilst this potentially increases news flow, diversity and opinion, in reality the counter-pressures of Another technique is to keep the target entertained and addicted in accumulation of market and corporate forces have led to a virtual media order to keep the peoples minds focused on entertainment, sports, and monopoly. Controlling the Media can be used to control information. peripheral political issues because this way the controller wont have to Media can be controlled by owning it or by doing favours to those worry that they will ever figure out the real issues that allow you to control who own it. Masterfully done films, television programs, talk shows, them. popular shows, commercials, advertisements and demonstrations are George Orwell said He who controls the past commands the future. used to inculcate the ideas promoted by the Controllers. Being fed the History is rewritten at every available opportunity by governments, very same information together with biased interpretations, people corporations, religions and filmmakers in order to manipulate the are becoming manageable and controllable regardless of their cultural and class differences from responding to calls for religious sacrifices to worldview of the people. participation in wars with nebulous and questionable reasons and goals. Patriotism is a symbol of unity of people and country, but it is actually It is well known that people in a brainwashed crowd will shout hurrah one of the main methods that people are controlled and manipulated into to their oppressive dictator and, on the contrary, show contempt for the serving their government in ways that may not be in their best interest. fighters for their freedom. Joseph Goebbels says Never admit a lie - simply keep repeating it as Beliefs of most religions and cults control people which have led to this works wonders for governments intent on misleading its citizens. more murder, misery, torture, sexual abuse, child abuse, suicide, guilt, shame, anger, perversion, hostility and slavery. Hiding truth in a barrage of lies is a very useful method of not getting caught making a lie as the lies that go along with the truthful piece of A country at war with an enemy (external or internal) is generally a information twist that truth so that it is no longer any use. When it is country that is united in fear and one in which the people are happy to questioned, governments can always hold up their hands in surprise telling hand over power to their leaders. that they have been giving the truth all along.

Changing Perception
One basic technique is to keep the target ignorant. Abolishing public education or restricting access to education would be the direct approach and the indirect approach is to control the education they receive. It is a misleading notion to believe that only the uneducated can be manipulated. Some believe that the educated are actually the easiest to manipulate because they have been trained to process so much information that they often become less critical and also educational systems practiced at schools and other institutions are to forge a certain beliefs and values in the younger generation.

Perceptual Control Theory (PCT)

Perceptual Control Theory states that the function of behaviour is the control of perception. Perceptions are controlled according to specified internal reference levels despite the effects of other variables that tend to disturb those perceptions. Control systems set goals, take action to achieve those goals and take further actions to maintain those goals against opposing forces. The Phenomenon of Control
The phenomenon of control is familiar from the behaviour of artificial devices such as the thermostat. The thermostat acts to keep a variable, room temperature, in a predetermined state (the temperature setting of the thermostat), despite disturbances such as changes in outside temperature and the number of people in the room that would act to move that variable from the predetermined state. In the behaviour of living organisms control is seen as purposeful or goal-oriented: the organism is seen acting to bring some variable state of the world, such as ones relationship with another person, to a pre-determined state (marriage) despite disturbances such as disapproving parents and/ or competing suitors.

Negative Feedback Control System

A single isolated negative feedback control system can be represented as a two-part block diagram. One part shows variables and relationships that can be observed from outside the system : a model of the environment with which the control system interacts, including quantitative measurements of those interactions. The remainder of the model is essentially a proposal for what sorts of functions and variables might exist inside the controlling entity that would account for what we can see it doing from outside.

To higher systems

From higher systems

REFERENCE SIGNAL Specifies intended or desired magnitude of perceptual signal ERROR SIGNAL Indicates amount and direction of difference between reference and perceptual signals

PERCEPTUAL SIGNAL Represents magnitude of one dimension of environment

COMPARATOR Measures mismatch between reference and perpetual signals

INPUT FUNCTION Converts state of input quantity into magnitude of perceptual signal CONTROLLING SYSTEM

OUTPUT FUNCTION Converts magnitude of error signal into state of output quantity

ENVIRONMENT
INPUT QUANTITY Physical variable that affects sensory inputs of controller Effects Add DISTURBANCE Physical variable that affects input quantity

FEEDBACK FUNCTION Physical properties that covert action or behaviour into an effect on input quantity

OUTPUT QUANTITY Measure of systems physical output action or observed behaviour

The basic organization of a negative feedback control system

There are two independent variables, the reference signal and the disturbance. The first task is to work out the properties of this organization in its simplest form, which is the steady state attained when these two variables are held constant. The input-output function in each box is represented as a simple linear equation:

system, if properly designed, comes into a state of balance which can be found by solving the simultaneous equations for variables of interest. Solving for the perceptual signal p by successive substitutions yields:

When system dynamics are considered, the equations become more complex, but the steady-state equations remain true. The steady state or very slow changes can be understood correctly in this relatively simple way.

(1) p = Ki Qi input function (2) e = r - p comparator (3) Qo = Ko e output function

Knowing that Qi is nearly constant when loop gain is high, we can use Equation 4 to see how the output action is related to disturbances. D, The product (Ki , Ko , Kf ) is the loop gain, a change in the disturbance D, results in Qo , representing how much a signal affects itself an opposing change in the output Qo . through the feedback loop. Substituting G = Ki Ko Kf to represent loop gain, we obtain:

p = Ki Ko Kf (r - p) + Ki Kd D

(6) Kf Qo = - Kd D

A change in the disturbance results in a change in the effect of the output on Qi that is opposite (4) Qi = Kf Qo + Kd D and almost equal to the effect that this change feedback & disturbance As the loop gain becomes larger (and the addition in the disturbance has on the same variable. functions of 1 becomes less significant), the ratio G/(1+G) Thus the relationship of the response (output) approaches 1 and becomes progressively less to the stimulus (input) is determined primarily Where, sensitive to changes in G. The higher the loop by the two environmental constants Kd and Kf p = perceptual signal gain, the more precisely the control system , not by the actual input-output characteristics r = reference signal makes the value of the perceptual signal match of the control system. We call this effect the e = error signal the value of the reference signal, even with behavioural illusion because it explains how Qi = input quantity it has been possible for so long to mistake a disturbances interfering. Qo = output quantity control system for an input-output or stimulusD = disturbance Equation (5) is the most important equation in response system. K in each case (Ki , Ko , Kf , Kd ) is a constant this theory about living control systems. converting amount of input to amount of output If G = infinity, then p = r: the reference signal In sum, behaviour is the externally at each of the indicated points in the loop. determines the perceptual signal, disturbances visible aspect of a control process The largest increase in output occurs in the have no effect, and large variations in loop gain by which perceptual experiences output function, where very weak neural have no effect on performance. signals are converted to as much as hundreds of pounds of muscle force. If Kf = 0 (no feedback) then G = 0 and p = Ki Kd D: the perceptual signal In the simplest case, when the disturbance and is determined entirely by the disturbance. the reference signal are constant, the whole

G Ki Kd D (5) p = ------- r + -------- 1+G 1+G

are controlled. We control perceived results, not behaviours or actions. Behaviour is the control of perception.