The knowing-doing loop and its associated scopes: A model of cognition and communication based on recent work in systems theory and cybernetics

Communication difficulties are discussed not only in traditional communication studies, but also in various branches of management science. This dissertation offers a new approach to understanding difficulties in communication. In the field of Systems Theory and Cybernetics (STC), new insights have been achieved in recent years in two research areas. The first is constructivist cybernetics. The second is self-organization theory. How would these new insights help us improve the effectiveness and efficiency of communication? To answer this question, the dissertation further develops the key concepts rooted in constructivist cybernetics and theories of self-organization. "The constructedness of reality" and "the eigen-loop of self-organization" are used to build a theoretical framework for understanding communication through an interpretation of cognition. The model consists of a Knowing-Doing Loop, which is a description of the interactions between an organism and its environment, including cognition and the communication processes, and a conceptualization of the Five Scopes of Constructs associated with the Knowing-Doing Loop. The conceptualization of the Five Scopes is a way to classify the various results produced by the activities of knowing and doing. The conceptual framework of the Knowing-Doing Loop and Five Scopes of Construct can be used to understand some of the sources of communication difficulties. Practical methods based on this model as well as an operational definition of action science, a science of change-oriented prescriptions rather than objectivity-oriented descriptions, are proposed.; This study does not present a psychological theory. It does not rely on the field of traditional communication studies. Rather, it is an effort to make use of ideas found in Cybernetics and System Theory in order to create a better understanding of communication.