The Counterplanning Process: A Model of Decision-Making in Adverse Situations

A heuristic model of human reasoning is discussed where the reasoner must contend with dynamically-changing goals and actions of other actors in the world. A process model based on heuristic strategies is presented for decision making in obstructive and constructive counterplanning situations. The former situation is characterized by an actor striving to thwart the goals and plans of a second actor. The latter, is the dual situation; it provides general means for an actor to pursue his goal in spite of attempts by others to block his plans. The model has been implemented as part of the POLITICS system, a computer program that understands simple natural language accounts of international political conflicts. KEY UORDS AND TOPICS: p l a n n i n g , c o u n t e r p l a n n i n g , n a t u r a l languaqe , h e u r i s t i c s , i n f e r e n c e , r u l e b a s e d systems. '