we have learned about well-being and flourishing, and how it might apply to the four areaswe studied in MAPP 600 this semester.In many ways, the human system is designed to work like linear control systems suchas cruise control. With cruise control, the car's speed is regulated to within a certain range.As you drive, the system looks at the input of current speed, the set point speed and thenreacts with appropriate action. If you're going up a hill and thus have slowed down, theaccelerator is applied. Likewise, going downhill your speed increases, and the systemresponds by applying the break.Cruise control is a simple example of a control system. Control systems are " adevice or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the behavior of other devicesor systems." (Control System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2008) Control systems,such as the one illustrated below are designed to keep the system stable using feedback loops.
(Control System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2008)
We can see how the human being can be viewed as a control system. There areinputs, outputs, and feedback of some of the outputs back into the inputs. The system ismeant to keep us in a functioning range. We can see the system at work through adaptationto changes (Kahneman, 2000), management of nutrients through the cycle of hunger andeating, and even that the approach - withdraw assessments and their interaction with our cognitive system are constantly working to keep us safe (Haidt, 2006). The idea of human-
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