PSYCHOFEEDBACK: Practical Psychocy bernetics

by Paul G. Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 23, 1979

They're calling it ""RASCON"" (""Reticular Activating System Control"") these days--the latest of the move-over-because-I'm-the-real-thing therapies. Like biofeedback, this one has the ring of scientific verisimilitude: a point-by-point cybernetic comparison of brain with computer. Supposedly, since ""99 percent of what you do every day is done as a matter of habit,"" all you have to do to outsmart your own misery is to punch in a different program of neuron chain habits. This is accomplished largely through the balanced interplay of imagination and willpower to create positive input--which Thomas insists is unlike the ""positive thinking"" of a Norman Vincent Peale because it is ""based on rigorous logic, vast scientific knowledge, and a profound understanding of how 'thinking machines' operate."" This kind of effusive overkill pervades much of the text, particularly about cybernetics and its founder; but even more damaging is the technological-sounding claptrap that accompanies the foray into mind as machine: ""Now we come to RASCON and the psychophysical method of using systematic relaxation to get control of your biocomputer."" Hot air and hardware.

Pub Date: Nov. 23, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION