Plans and the Structure of Behavior
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| Plans and the Structure of Behavior | |
|---|---|
| Name | Plans and the Structure of Behavior |
| Author | George A. Miller |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Cognitive psychology |
| Publisher | Henry Holt and Company |
| Pub date | 1960 |
| Pages | 140 |
Plans and the Structure of Behavior
"Plans and the Structure of Behavior" is a seminal 1960 book by George A. Miller that helped catalyze the cognitive revolution by proposing that behavior is organized by internal plans and representations rather than by simple stimulus–response chains. The work influenced researchers across Harvard University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of Chicago and intersected with developments at institutions like the Bell Labs, RAND Corporation, SRI International, Allen Institute, and Carnegie Mellon University. It engaged contemporaries such as Noam Chomsky, Herbert A. Simon, Allen Newell, Jerome Bruner, and Donald Broadbent and connected to debates involving the Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, American Psychological Association, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Cognitive Science Society.
Background and Historical Context
Miller wrote during a period shaped by the aftermath of World War II, the rise of computers at ENIAC and UNIVAC I, and theoretical shifts prompted by figures like Alan Turing and Norbert Wiener. The book emerged amid critiques of behaviorism associated with B.F. Skinner, supported alternative views from Edward Tolman and Kurt Lewin, and paralleled linguistic arguments by Noam Chomsky against B.F. Skinner's frameworks. Influences included work at Bell Labs on information theory by Claude Shannon, cybernetics discussions involving W. Ross Ashby, and early artificial intelligence research at MIT by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky.
Theoretical Framework and Key Concepts
Miller proposed that plans, schemas, and hierarchical structures organize behavior, drawing on concepts from Information theory, computational models championed by Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell, and representational accounts linked to Noam Chomsky's generative grammar. Key concepts include procedural plans, chunking (related to Miller’s own work on The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two), hierarchical control reminiscent of Donald Broadbent's filter models, and serial-order problems studied by Karl Lashley. Miller integrated ideas from Jerome Bruner’s cognitive psychology, Ulric Neisser’s later work, and anticipations found in Antonio Damasio’s neuropsychology. He invoked computational metaphors developed at RAND Corporation and formal structures related to Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics and Claude Shannon’s signal processing.
Experimental Evidence and Empirical Studies
Empirical grounding drew on psychophysical and behavioral studies by researchers at Yale University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and University of California, Berkeley. Tasks included serial ordering experiments similar to those by Karl Lashley and memory chunking studies related to Frederic Bartlett’s schema work, with methodological precedents in signal detection paradigms advanced by David Green and John A. Swets. Comparative work referenced animal studies by B.F. Skinner and cognitive ethology perspectives of Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz, while human problem-solving experiments echoed the protocols of Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell at Carnegie Mellon University.
Neural and Cognitive Mechanisms
Although largely theoretical and behavioral, Miller’s account anticipated neural circuit interpretations later explored by neuroscientists at California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, and Salk Institute. Subsequent neural models by investigators such as David Hubel, Torsten Wiesel, Michael Gazzaniga, Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Eric Kandel, and Christof Koch examined hierarchical processing, working memory systems linked to Baddeley and Hitch models, and prefrontal cortex implementations elaborated by Timothy Bliss and Earl Miller (distinct from the book’s author). Connections were drawn to computational neuroscience efforts by Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts and to connectionist frameworks revived by David Rumelhart and James McClelland.
Applications and Implications
The book influenced fields and institutions including artificial intelligence labs at MIT, Stanford Research Institute, Bell Labs, and IBM Research, shaping architectures for planning in systems like the General Problem Solver and affecting human factors design in projects at NASA, Boeing, General Motors, and Ford Motor Company. Educational approaches at Harvard Graduate School of Education and Teachers College, Columbia University incorporated schema-based curricula influenced by Miller’s ideas. Policy and organizational design at entities such as the U.S. Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration reflected planning metaphors in command-and-control systems, while cognitive therapy approaches at clinics inspired by Aaron T. Beck and Albert Ellis considered structured action plans.
Criticisms and Alternative Models
Critics from behaviorist traditions including adherents of B.F. Skinner contested Miller’s internalist assumptions, while connectionist and dynamical-systems proponents such as Stephen Grossberg, Paul Smolensky, Hava Siegelmann, Stevan Harnad, and Tim van Gelder offered competing accounts emphasizing distributed representations or continuous-time dynamics. Linguists like Noam Chomsky agreed with some representational claims but diverged on mechanistic commitments. Later debates involved proponents of embodied cognition linked to Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Alva Noë, and situated cognition advocates associated with Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Neurobiological critics in the tradition of Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s lineage demanded more direct circuit-level evidence, which motivated empirical programs at institutions including NIH, Wellcome Trust, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.