🚀 go-pugleaf

[From Rick Marken (990505.0810)]

Kenny Kitzke (990505.2120EDT)

> If a person gives in (unwillingly) to the bully's demand, it
> would be coercion by both our definitions.

Not really. The person now wants what the bully wants. So I
think that by your definition coercion has ceased.

> But, while the wimp resists giving in, I would not call it
> coercion.  Would you?

I would, because the bully is controlling the person's behavior,
though he doesn't yet have the person's behavior at the reference.
Not calling this coercion (control of behavior) would be like not
calling it "control of car position" when the position of the
car briefly deviates from it's intended course due to a strong
gust of wind; resistance to the bully is like a gust of wind;
a momentary increase in the size of the disturbance to the
behavioral variable being controlled by the bully.

> I just prefer my view.  So when you say coercion is taking
> place, it will just have to be different that when I say it is
> taking place some times.

Ok. I agree that when we talk about "coercion" we all seem to
be talking about something different. I'm talking about something
people _do_ to others: control of behavior. You seem to be
talking about that _and_ what people feel.

Maybe we can agree to use the term "control of behavior" to
describe the behavior that I have been calling "coercion". I
presume that you know what I'm talking about when I say "control
of behavior"; I'm talking about control of a perception of what
someone else is doing.

Could we agree, then, that if you send someone from a room
because you want that person out of the room, you are
controlling that person's behavior, even if going to the other
room is _exactly_ what that person wanted to do anyway? That
is, in this case, is it not accurate to say that what _you_
are doing is "control of behavior"?

Best

Rick
---
Richard S. Marken                 Phone or Fax:  310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates         e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken