Will - what is it in psychology. General characteristics of the will

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The concept of will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Will functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Arbitrary and involuntary volitional actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The structure of volitional action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Volitional qualities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Theories of will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Will pathology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

List of sources used. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Introduction

Will - the ability to choose activities and internal efforts necessary for its implementation. A specific act, irreducible to consciousness and activity as such. Carrying out a volitional action, a person opposes the power of directly experienced needs, impulsive desires: a volitional act is characterized not by the experience of "I want", but by the experience of "I must", "I must", awareness of the value characteristics of the purpose of the action. Volitional behavior includes decision-making, often accompanied by a struggle of motives, and its implementation.

Weakness of will, disorganization, action on the strongest motive, a relatively easy refusal to achieve the goal in spite of its objective significance - all this is characteristic of man.

We cannot always distinguish persistence from stubbornness, adherence to certain principles from striving, by all means to achieve our own, seeing in all this equal manifestations of will. Therefore, it is necessary to learn to separate the true manifestations of the will from the false ones.

The concept of will

Will is the most complex phenomenon in human psychology. Will can be defined as a kind of internal force of a psychological nature, capable of controlling psychological phenomena and human behavior. This is a form of internal control of behavior carried out by a person and associated with his consciousness, thinking.

Will is the highest level of regulation of human behavior. This is what makes it possible to set difficult goals for oneself, to achieve the set goals, overcoming internal and external obstacles thanks to the will, a person makes a conscious choice when he is faced with the need to choose among several forms of behavior.

The main difference between human behavior and the behavior of other creatures is will. For 300 years, science has made almost no progress in understanding the meaning of will and volitional regulation. This is due to the fact that will is a subjective phenomenon that does not have certain external manifestations and physiological signs; it is not known which brain structures are responsible for volitional regulation.

Will presupposes self-restraint, the restraint of some fairly strong drives, the conscious subordination of them to other, more significant, important goals, the ability to suppress the desires and impulses that directly arise in a given situation. At the highest levels of its manifestation, the will involves reliance on spiritual goals and moral values, on beliefs and ideals.

Will Functions

In general, volitional processes perform three main functions.

The first - initiating (directly related to motivational factors) is to force one or another action, behavior, activity to start, overcoming objective and subjective obstacles.

The second is stabilizing, associated with volitional efforts to maintain activity at the proper level in the event of external and internal interference of various kinds.

The third - inhibitory consists in the inhibition of other, often strong motives and desires, other behaviors.

Will as a process is not only one of the highest forms of organization of all other mental processes. In volitional processes, the personality and its mental processes are not only manifested, but also formed and developed. In this regard, one more function of the will is singled out - genetic, productive. As a result of its action, the level of awareness and organization of other mental processes increases, and the so-called volitional properties of the personality are formed - independence, determination, perseverance, self-control, purposefulness, etc.

Arbitrary and involuntary

volitional actions

Any human activity is always accompanied by specific actions that can be divided into two large groups: voluntary and involuntary. The main difference between voluntary actions is that they are carried out under the control of consciousness and require certain efforts on the part of a person aimed at achieving a consciously set song. For example, imagine a sick person who hardly takes a glass of water in his hand, brings it to his mouth, tilts it, makes a movement with his mouth, that is, performs a number of actions united by one goal - to quench his thirst. All individual actions, thanks to the efforts of consciousness aimed at regulating behavior, merge into one whole, and a person drinks water. These efforts are often called volitional regulation, or will.

Arbitrary or volitional actions develop on the basis of involuntary movements and actions. The simplest of the involuntary actions are reflex ones: constriction and expansion of the pupil, blinking, swallowing, sneezing, etc. The same class of movements includes pulling the hand away when touching a hot object, involuntarily turning the head in the direction of a sound, etc. Involuntary character Our expressive movements are also usually worn: when angry, we involuntarily clench our teeth; in surprise, we raise our eyebrows or open our mouths; when we are happy about something, we begin to smile, etc.

Volitional structure

The structure of volitional action can be represented as a diagram:

Volitional activity always consists of certain volitional actions, which contain all the signs and qualities of the will. In this action, the following simple steps can be clearly distinguished:

1) motivation;

3) decision making;

4) willpower.

Often the 1st, 2nd and 3rd stages are combined, calling this part of the volitional action the preparatory link, while the 4th stage is called the executive link. For a simple volitional action, it is characteristic that the choice of a goal, the decision to perform an action in a certain way, is carried out without a struggle of motives.

In a complex volitional action, the following stages are distinguished:

1) awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it;

2) awareness of a number of opportunities to achieve the goal;

3) the emergence of motives that affirm or deny these possibilities;

4) struggle of motives and choice;

5) accepting one of the possibilities as a solution;

6) implementation of the adopted decision.

Volitional qualities

Volitional qualities are relatively stable mental formations independent of the specific situation, certifying the level of conscious self-regulation of behavior achieved by the individual, his power over himself. Volitional qualities combine the moral components of the will, which are formed in the process of education, and genetic ones, closely related to the typological features of the nervous system. For example, fear, the inability to endure fatigue for a long time, to make a quick decision to a large extent depend on the innate characteristics of a person (strength and weakness of the nervous system, its lability).

Volitional qualities include three components: proper psychological (moral), physiological (volitional effort) and neurodynamic (typological features of the nervous system).

Based on this, all volitional qualities are divided into "basal" (primary) and systemic (secondary). The primary ones are actually volitional qualities, which, in turn, are divided into two groups. The first group is characterized by purposefulness, the ability to keep an effort of will, this is patience, perseverance, perseverance.

The second group characterizes self-control and includes such qualities as courage, endurance, determination. It is important for the education of the will to present to the child the requirements that are appropriate and feasible for his age, with mandatory control over their implementation. Lack of control can create a habit of quitting before finishing. The manifestation of willpower is due to the moral motives of a person. The presence of a person's strong beliefs and a holistic worldview is the basis of the volitional organization of the personality.

Theories of will

To date, several scientific directions have been formed that interpret the concept of “will” in different ways: will as voluntarism, will as freedom of choice, will as arbitrary control of behavior, will as motivation, will as volitional regulation.

1. Will as voluntarism

In attempts to explain the mechanisms of human behavior within the framework of the problem of will, a direction arose that in 1883, with the light hand of the German sociologist F. Tennis, received the name "voluntarism" and recognizes the will as a special, supranatural force. According to the doctrine of voluntarism, volitional acts are not determined by anything, but they themselves determine the course of mental processes. The German philosophers A. Schopenhauer and E. Hartmann went even further, declaring the will to be a cosmic force, a blind and unconscious first principle from which all mental manifestations of a person originate. Consciousness and intellect are, according to Schopenhauer, secondary manifestations of the will. Spinoza denied causeless behavior, since "the will itself, like everything else, needs a cause." I. Kant recognized equally provable both the thesis about free will and the antithesis that the will is incapable. Solving the problem of human freedom, Kant subjected to critical analysis both the Christian doctrine of free will and the concept of mechanistic determinism.

2. Will as "free choice"

The Dutch philosopher B. Spinoza considered the struggle of impulses as a struggle of ideas. Spinoza's will acts as an awareness of external determination, which is subjectively perceived as one's own voluntary decision, as inner freedom.

However, the English thinker J. Locke tried to isolate the question of free choice from the general problem of free will. Freedom, on the other hand, consists "precisely in this, that we can act or not act according to our choice or desire."

The American psychologist W. James considered the main function of the will to make a decision about an action in the presence of two or more ideas of movement in the mind at the same time. Therefore, volitional effort consists in directing a person of his consciousness to an unattractive, but necessary object and focusing attention on it. Classifying himself as a voluntarist, W. James considered the will to be an independent force of the soul, with the ability to make decisions about action.

L.S. Vygotsky, when discussing the problem of will, also associated this concept with freedom of choice.

3. Will as "arbitrary motivation"

The concept of will as a determinant of human behavior originated in Ancient Greece and for the first time was explicitly formulated by Aristotle. The philosopher understood that knowledge in itself is not the cause of rational behavior, but a certain force that causes action according to reason. This force is born, according to Aristotle, in the rational part of the soul, thanks to the combination of a rational connection with aspiration, which gives the decision a motivating force.

Rene Descartes understood the will as the ability of the soul to form desire and determine the impulse to any human action that cannot be explained on the basis of a reflex. The will can slow down the movements caused by passion. Reason, according to Descartes, is the will's own instrument.

G.I. Chelpanov singled out three elements in the act of will: desire, aspiration and effort. K.N. Kornilov emphasized that volitional actions are always based on a motive.

L.S. Vygotsky singled out two separate processes in volitional action: the first corresponds to a decision, the closing of a new brain connection, the creation of a special functional apparatus; the second - executive - consists in the work of the created apparatus, in the action according to the instructions, in the implementation of the decision.

4. Will as obligation

The specificity of this approach to understanding the will is that the will is considered as one of the incentive mechanisms, along with the actually experienced need.

Will pathology

Allocate the pathology of higher and lower volitional activity. The pathology of higher volitional activity includes hyperbulia. At the same time, a pathological distortion of the motivation of volitional activity is revealed. There is an extraordinary perseverance in achieving goals by any means.

Hypobulia is a decrease in volitional activity, accompanied by poverty of motives, lethargy, inactivity, poor speech, weakening of attention, impoverishment of thinking, decreased motor activity, and limited communication. Abulia - lack of motives, desires, drives. It is observed in chronic diseases with a decrease in intelligence and a weakening of affective activity. Often combined with symptoms such as: a decrease in social productivity - a deterioration in the performance of social roles and skills, a decrease in professional productivity - a deterioration in the performance of professional duties and skills, i.e. specific tasks and responsibilities, knowledge and standards in the professional field and its productivity ( material production, service, the sphere of science and art), social alienation is a form of behavior characterized by a persistent tendency to reject social interactions and ties, etc.

The pathology of the lower volitional activity includes the pathology of drives that are formed on the basis of instincts in the form of their strengthening, weakening or perversion. For example: pathology of the food instinct (bulimia - increased craving for food associated with a lack of satiety; anorexia - weakening or lack of hunger), pathology of the self-preservation instinct: phobias - an unreasonable feeling of fear for one's life; agoraphobia - fear of open spaces, situations close to them, such as the presence of a crowd and the inability to immediately return to a safe place (usually home); pathology of the sexual instinct (hypersexuality, gender identity disorders)

There are also disorders of habits and drives (propensity to gamble).

Conclusion

Will - the ability to choose activities and internal efforts necessary for its implementation. In general, volitional processes perform three main functions: initiating, stabilizing, and inhibiting.

Any human activity is always accompanied by specific actions that can be divided into two large groups: voluntary and involuntary.

The structure of the will can be represented as the following steps:

1) motivation;

2) awareness of the possibilities of achieving the goal;

3) decision making;

4) willpower.

The pathology of the will is divided into lower and higher. The pathology of higher volitional activity includes hyperbulia. The pathology of the lower volitional activity includes the pathology of drives that are formed on the basis of instincts in the form of their strengthening, weakening or perversion.

This term has other meanings, see Will. Wiktionary has an article "will"

Will- the ability of a person to make decisions based on the thought process and direct his thoughts and actions in accordance with the decision.

One of the highest mental functions. Will as an active decision-making process is opposed to a passive, thoughtless reaction to surrounding stimuli - Weaknesses.

Definition of will in psychology

The concept of will was born in philosophy, where will is defined as the ability of the mind to self-determination, including moral, and the generation of specific causality. Having moved into psychology and neurology, the definition of will lost its moral aspect and began to be interpreted only as a mental function. The traditional attribution of the will to higher mental functions speaks of the idea of it as a property of a person, but not an animal, although some studies of animals cast doubt on this idea.

In the most general sense, the will is considered in psychology as a person's ability to conscious self-regulation. The will is necessary both for the performance of an action, or for the refusal of it. The basic element of will is the act of conscious decision-making. Will is close to the concept of freedom in existential psychology in the sense that a person who makes such a conscious decision must break away from the momentary situation and either turn to his attitude towards himself, his values, or turn to imagination, logic and simulate the consequences of the proposed action.

In a more general philosophical and psychological understanding, the will is represented by S. L. Rubinshtein. Rubinshtein writes: "actions regulated by a conscious goal and attitude towards it as a motive - these are volitional actions." This definition allows you to clearly separate the concept of will from the concept of desire, the concept of motivation. In this definition, there is a separation from the momentary situation in the form of an attitude towards the goal, its awareness. The relationship between motive and purpose is also important. In the case when the goal and motive coincide, at least in the mind of the subject, the subject completely controls his activity, it is not spontaneous in nature - there is a will in the activity.

Some psychologists confuse the concept of will as a mental function with the ability of a person to strive to achieve a goal, as a result of which one can find such definitions: “Will is a conscious regulation by the subject of his activity and behavior, which ensures overcoming difficulties in achieving the goal ...”.

In sociology, the concept of will also takes place. Sociologist F.N. Ilyasov, for example, defines will as “the ability of a subject to create a hierarchical system of values and make efforts to achieve values of a higher order, neglecting values of a lower order.”

Faith in one's own strength, self-discipline, manifestation of determination, courage, patience - there are so many names for the will. But depending on the circumstances, the situation takes on a different look. Will is one of the most complex phenomena in modern psychology. This is a kind of internal force that can control your decisions, actions, and, as a result, the results of actions. It is thanks to the strong-willed character that a person is able not only to set goals that are impossible at first glance, but also to achieve them, overcoming any obstacles on the way to this.

Types of will in psychology

There are three most common types of this important component of the human psyche:

Free will is referred to in other words as spiritual freedom. It is this freedom of decisions and actions that is characteristic of deeply religious individuals. For example, it is worth remembering how monks live. They easily refuse material goods and live "not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."
The will, called natural, is manifested in the freedom of choice, thinking, views, judgments, and human behavior.
And the last kind is a forced will, characterized by an imposed decision. In this case, you are forced to make your choice out of necessity in connection with certain prevailing circumstances.

Development of the will

In psychology, the development of will in a person is attributed, first of all, to the main features that distinguish it from the behavior of other living beings. It is generally accepted that this conscious quality (that is, it is natural for a person to control the manifestation of will in his behavior) arose along with the emergence of society, social labor. Will is associated with emotional and cognitive processes in the human psyche.

It is important to note that it exhibits two functions:

incentive
brake.

It is by our activity that we ensure the functioning of the first one, and the inhibitory one acts in unity with the previous one and manifests itself in the form of restraint of those manifestations of activity, that is, actions that contradict the norms of morality and society. Thanks to the interaction of two functions, a person manages to develop volitional qualities in himself, to overcome obstacles on the way to achieving what he wants.

If the living conditions of a person from childhood were unfavorable, it is unlikely that the cherished volitional qualities will be developed in it. But determination, perseverance, discipline, courage, etc. can always be developed. To do this, the main thing, engaging in various activities, is to overcome both external and internal obstacles.

But it would not be superfluous to indicate a list of those factors that inhibit volitional development:

spoiled baby;
suppression of any decisions of the child through rigid parental will.

Properties of will in psychology

Definition of will. Volitional process

Will called the ability of a person to perform deliberate actions aimed at achieving consciously set goals, consciously regulate their activities and manage their own behavior.

Will- a mental function, which consists in the ability of an individual to consciously control his psyche and actions in the decision-making process to achieve the goals. Positive qualities of the will, manifestations of its strength contribute to the success of the activity. Volitional qualities often include courage, perseverance, determination, independence, patience, self-control, purposefulness, endurance, initiative, courage, and others. The concept of "will" is very closely related to the concept of "freedom".

A person not only reflects reality in his feelings, perceptions, ideas and concepts, he also acts, changing his environment in connection with his needs, intentions and interests.

The animal in its life also affects the external environment, but this effect occurs in the process of unconscious adaptation. Aimed at changing the environment and adapting it to one's needs, human activity has a different character than that of animals: it is expressed in volitional actions preceded by awareness of the goal and the means necessary to achieve this goal.

Volitional processes- Will is expressed in a person's ability to consciously regulate and activate his behavior. Any action is always, to one degree or another, associated with mental regulation, i.e., a volitional process.
The sources of the volitional process are needs and interests expressed in aspirations. Depending on the degree of awareness, aspirations are divided into inclinations, desires, desires. Aspirations, in turn, are expressed in the setting of goals.

Volitional processes - this is a conscious regulation by a person of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles, with the mobilization of all his forces to achieve his goals. A person uses his will when making decisions, when choosing a goal, when taking actions to overcome obstacles on the way to the goal.
Volitional processes are simple and complex. TO simple are those that unshakably lead a person to the intended goal, and decision-making occurs without a struggle of motives. IN difficult volitional processes are divided into the following stages:
- awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it;
- awareness of the possibilities to achieve it;

The emergence of motives associated with the achievement of the goal;
- the struggle of motives and the choice of the possibility of achievement;
- decision-making on possible actions;
- implementation of the decision.
Along with volitional actions, a person often performs captive(automatic and instinctive), which are committed without the control of consciousness and do not require the application of volitional efforts.
Depending on the nature of the course of volitional processes, the following volitional qualities of a person's personality are distinguished:
- purposefulness;
- self-control;
- independence;
- decisiveness;
- perseverance;
- vigor;
- initiative;
- performance.
Volitional actions actions of a person in which he consciously seeks to achieve certain goals are called

Volitional actions are interconnected with the processes of thinking. If without thinking there can be no real conscious volitional act, then thinking itself is correctly carried out only in connection with activity.

Stages of the volitional process - The emergence of an idea, awareness of desire, desire, execution of a decision.

The emergence of the presentation. The volitional process arises from a clear idea, or thought about the goal associated with the satisfaction of any need, and the desire to achieve this goal. This moment in the course of an act of will, when there is a clear consciousness of the goal associated with the desire for it, is called desire. Not every origin of need has a conscious character. In some particular cases, the need that arises is either not yet recognized at all, or is only vaguely recognized; then we have that mental state which is customarily called attraction. Unlike desire, which is the result of a conscious need and is associated with a clear idea of a goal that can satisfy the need, attraction is vague, indefinite, the object to which it is directed is not clear.

Awareness of desire, the manifestation in the mind of a clear idea of the goal. Attention is concentrated on the object of the target setting, images associated with the presentation of the goal appear in the mind with exceptional brightness, thinking is strenuously looking for means to achieve this goal.

Wanting. The desire is supported or not supported by the availability of appropriate means and the intention to fulfill this desire. Not every wish comes true. Sometimes a person faces several goals at once, or there may be doubt as to whether one should strive for a given goal. The process of the so-called struggle of motives begins. It is as a result of the struggle of motives that the final choice and decision arises, and the result of this stage can be either determination or an extinguished desire.

Execution of the decision, i.e. putting it into action. The essence of a volitional act lies precisely in this stage.

Will (philosophy) is:

Will (philosophy) This term has other meanings, see Will.

Will- the phenomenon of regulation by the subject of his activity and behavior, which ensures the formation of goals and the concentration of internal efforts to achieve them.

Will is not a physical activity, not an emotional activity, and not always a conscious activity of a person; but an activity that always reflects the principles of morality and norms of the individual and indicates the value characteristics of the goal of the chosen action. A person, carrying out volitional actions, resists impulsive desires, forming a strong personality in himself.

The structure of volitional behavior

At its core, volitional behavior is divided into two main components - decision making and its further implementation. But if there is a discrepancy between the purpose of the action and the need to make a decision, then this situation is often accompanied by an act of choice, or, as it is customary in the psychological literature, this state is called a struggle of motives. The decision chosen by the person is further realized in various psychological conditions. The range of such conditions can begin from such moments at which it is enough to make a decision, and the subsequent action after this choice is carried out as if by itself. For this psychological model, we can give an example of a drowning child, to save which you only need to muster up courage, and only then the situation goes into an “automatic” mode. There are also conditions in which the realization of volitional behavior and choice is opposed by some kind of strong need. To overcome such a situation and achieve the final chosen goal, special efforts are required, that is, the manifestation of the "strength" of the will.

Will in the history of philosophy and psychology

The concept of "will" has various interpretations in the history of philosophy and psychology. This is primarily due to the fact that it is almost impossible to give a precise definition of such a fundamental term. Some see the will as a "force" conditioned from without through physical, psychological, social causes, and even through divine determination. Others believe that the will is an internal, predetermined self-sustaining force (see Free will). For example, in the teachings of voluntarism, will appears as the initial, primary foundation of the entire world process, in particular, human activity. The problems of the difference in philosophical approaches to the problem of studying and understanding the will tried to be reflected in the psychological theories of the will. They are divided into two main groups. The first - "autogenetic" - considers the will as a specific ability, not reducible to any other processes (reflected in the works of W. Wundt, N. Akh, I. Lindvorsky and others). The second - "heterogenetic" theory defines the will as something secondary. This ability is a product of some other mental factors and phenomena. In this case, the will performs the function of thinking, representing or feeling. (works by I. F. Herbart, K. Ehrenfels, E. Meuyman and others).

Based on dialectical and historical materialism, Soviet psychology interprets the concept of will in the context of socio-historical conditioning. In Soviet psychology, the main direction in the study of the Will was the study of the phylo- and ontogenesis of actions and higher mental functions arising from the will. As L. S. Vygotsky showed, the arbitrary nature of human action is the result of the mediation of the relationship between the individual and the environment by tools and sign systems. So, in the process of development of the child's psyche, the initial processes of perception and memory acquire an arbitrary character, and later become self-regulating. In parallel with this, the ability to retain the goal of the action develops. All this leads to the development of the human mental system. Also in the USSR, “schools on the theory of set” developed, based on the research of the Soviet psychologist D. N. Uznadze.

Will in pedagogy

In modern times, the problem of educating the will is of great importance for pedagogy. In this regard, various techniques are being developed with the goal of training the ability to maintain efforts to achieve the goal. The will is inseparable from the character of a person and plays a significant role in the process of his formation as a person. It is believed that character, together with intellect, is the basis of volitional processes.

Will and emotions

In a way, will is a psychic activity. Likewise, will is a reflex process. The prerequisite for the development of will and volitional behavior must be sought in animals. Each animal has an innate reaction, for which the restriction of movements serves as a stimulus. Thus, the will, as an activity associated with the need to overcome obstacles, has independence in relation to the motives that initially created this behavior. The specific actions of certain medicinal substances on the body and the "strength" of the will allow us to speak of the presence of a certain brain apparatus that implements the "freedom" reflex. It has been proved that the system of speech signals plays a huge role in the mechanisms of volitional influence and effort (works by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, A. R. Luria). The will is closely connected with the actions, consciousness and emotions of a person. It follows that the will is an independent form of human mental life. While emotions ensure the mobilization of energy resources and the transition to various forms of a person's response to external and internal significant signals, the will, in contrast, prevents the excessive generation of emotional arousal and helps to maintain the initial chosen direction. But also volitional behavior can be a source of positive emotions before the final goal is achieved, by satisfying the need to overcome the obstacles themselves. Therefore, the most productive human activity is the combination of a strong will with an optimal level of emotional stress.

“The will is closely connected with the actions, consciousness and emotions of a person. From this it follows that the will is an independent form of the mental life of man. This is wrong from the point of view of logic, in particular, the semantic load: from the close connection of the will with the actions, consciousness and emotions of a person, its inalienability in the structure of the human psyche follows, but not independence.

Literature

Will, in psychology and philosophy // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.

Links

Article "Will (philosophy)" (Great Soviet Encyclopedia)

Categories:

Epistemology
Philosophical terms
Ethics

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WILL

Will- this is the ability of an individual to consciously and purposefully regulate and control his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to mobilize mental and physical capabilities to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that stand in the way of the goal.

One of the most important characteristics of volitional behavior is self-determination. Carrying out an act of will, a person acts arbitrarily and without obeying the actions of external causes. Arbitrariness and over-situation are the fundamental principles of volitional behavior.

Will combines three main properties of consciousness: cognition, attitude and experience, being the incentive and command forms of their regulation, performing an activating or inhibitory function.

Volitional states are manifested in activity-passivity, restraint-incontinence, confidence-uncertainty, resoluteness-ty-indecision, etc.

The incentive function is provided by human activity. Unlike reactivity, when the action is conditioned by the previous situation, activity generates action due to the specifics of the subject's internal state, which are revealed at the moment of the action itself.

The inhibitory function of the will acts in unity with the motivating one. The inhibitory function is manifested in the containment of unwanted manifestations of activity. A person is able to slow down the awakening of motives and the implementation of actions that do not correspond to his worldview, ideals, and beliefs.

A person's motivation for action forms a certain ordered system - a hierarchy of motives (from the needs for food, clothing to higher motives associated with the experience of moral, aesthetic and intellectual feelings.

A person's motivation for volitional actions is a specific need, which becomes a prerequisite for any activity if it turns into a motive.

One of the most characteristic manifestations of the will is the behavior of a person in conditions of risk.

Volitional effort is an act of manifestation aimed at mobilizing the mental and physical capabilities of a person necessary to overcome obstacles in the process of activity.

The structure of the act of will

Volitional actions are simple and complex. Simple volitional actions include those in which a person without hesitation goes to the intended goal. In a complex volitional act, a rather complex process that mediates this action is wedged between the impulse and the action itself.

In a complex volitional act, at least four phases can be distinguished: the first phase is the emergence of motivation and preliminary setting of a goal, the second phase is the discussion and struggle of motives, the third phase is decision making, the fourth phase is the implementation of the decision.

The peculiarity of the course of a volitional act is that the mechanism for its implementation is volitional efforts at all phases. The implementation of a volitional act is always associated with a feeling of neuropsychic tension.

Volitional personality traits

Will forms certain personality traits, which are called "volitional personality traits". Volitional qualities of a personality are personality traits that have developed in the process of life experience and are associated with the realization of the will and overcoming obstacles on the path of life.

Psychologists call a lot of volitional qualities of a person, let's first of all name the basic, basic volitional qualities.

purposefulness- this is a conscious and active orientation of the individual to a certain result of activity. Distinguish between strategic and tactical purposefulness. Strategic purposefulness implies the ability of a person to be guided in all his life by certain values, beliefs and ideals. Operational purposefulness is associated with the ability of a person to set clear goals for individual actions and not be distracted from them in the process of execution.

Initiative- this is the active orientation of the individual to the commission of an action. It underlies the starting stage of any volitional act. Any volitional act begins with an initiative.

Independence- this is a conscious and active setting of a person not to be influenced by various factors, to critically evaluate the advice and suggestions of other people, to act on the basis of their views and beliefs.

Excerpt- this is a conscious and active setting of the individual to confront the factors that impede the implementation of the goal, which manifests itself in self-control and self-control.

Determination- a property of a person, manifested in her ability to make and implement quick, reasonable and firm decisions. Decisiveness is manifested in all phases of the act of will.

Energy- this is the quality of the personality associated with the concentration of all its forces to achieve the goal.

persistence- this is a quality of a person, manifested in her ability to mobilize her forces for a constant and long-term struggle with difficulties, pursuing her goals. Stubbornness is an unreasonable will.

organization- the quality of a person, manifested in the ability to reasonably plan and streamline the course of all his activities.

Discipline- this is a quality of a person, manifested in the conscious subordination of his behavior to generally accepted norms, established procedures, and the requirements of doing business.

self control- this is the quality of the personality, expressed in the ability to control one's actions and subordinate one's behavior to the solution of consciously set tasks.

Formation of volitional qualities

Will is an element of personality consciousness. Therefore, it is not an innate quality, but is formed and developed in the process of becoming a person. The development of a person's will is associated with the transformation of involuntary mental processes into arbitrary ones, with the acquisition by people of control over their behavior, with the development of volitional qualities of a personality into some complex form of activity.

Control questions

What is will?

What is its role in regulating behavior and activities?

Name the main volitional qualities of a person.

Literature

Radugin A.A. Psychology. M., 2003

Experimental studies of volitional activity. - Ryazan, 1986.

Very often one hears from people that they cannot do this or that act because they do not have enough. For example, start exercising every morning or stop eating sweets in large quantities. This requires a certain amount of effort on the part of the individual. What is will? Does it exist in every person? Is it possible to develop willpower?

The concept of will

Will is a function of the human psyche, thanks to which we have the opportunity to exercise control over our actions and manage actions, making this or that decision, to achieve our goals.

The will encourages people to achieve their desires and at the same time allows them to be controlled. With the help of it, a person is able to overcome difficulties, get out of difficult life situations. People whose will is not developed prefer to go with the flow, do not seek to change their existence for the better. It is easier for them to give up their dreams than to make an effort on themselves and take action.

Volitional qualities of a person

The concept of will includes a number of qualities of human character. These include, above all, self-control and endurance. These qualities are manifested in restraining, when necessary, their emotions in order to avoid committing rash actions that can lead to disastrous consequences. For example, you should not start a fight, even if you have been insulted or humiliated.

Another strong-willed quality is decisiveness. It consists in overcoming internal doubts and hesitations, quickly moving on to active actions, whether it be setting a goal or taking steps towards achieving it.

The independence of a person is also one of the volitional qualities. People should be able to make decisions, guided only by their own principles and beliefs, be independent of other people's opinions.

Strong-willed qualities can also include perseverance and stubbornness, as well as determination. They help a person not to deviate from what was planned, to continue to strive and act, even if not everything works out right away.

Freedom and will

Very often the word "will" is associated with freedom. In expressions such as "release" or "unleash", these words are almost synonymous. However, there are significant differences between the two words. Will is a broader concept, in contrast to freedom, which implies the ability of a person to live and act as he wants. At the same time, the will can to some extent restrict freedom, force a person to act not only as he wants, but also as common sense requires.

There is also the concept of "free will", which means that a person has a choice independent of external circumstances. People have the right to make their own decisions - how to live, what values to set as priorities for themselves, what goals to choose and how to strive to achieve them.

What is the will of God

Many people wonder whether a person has a choice at all and whether he can influence his own destiny. What is the will of God? How does it manifest itself in our world and can it be influenced?

God's will implies that everything that happens in our lives is predetermined from above. There is nothing that can happen without the knowledge and permission of God. The will of the Almighty is unchanging and does not depend on any external factors. People are not able to influence her, no matter how much they wish. It is hidden, inaccessible to the understanding of mankind.

Hiding behind God's will, people could do anything - kill, steal, while saying that it was destined to do so. However, this is far from being the case, and the responsibility of a person for his evil deeds is not removed. In addition to the hidden, there is also a comprehensible, or open, God's will for people. It is reflected in the Bible and tells people how they should live, what to fear and what to strive for. A person is responsible to God when he does not do His will, rejects His laws and neglects them.

The will of the Russian people

Each country, as a rule, has its own distinctive features inherent in its inhabitants. Russia is famous for the unbending willpower of its people. In the history of our state there are many examples of its manifestation. Only thanks to unprecedented willpower Russia has managed to win in many wars and maintain its sovereignty to this day.

One of the most striking examples, when the will of the people manifested itself in full force, is the blockade of Leningrad. It lasted almost 900 days. During this time, many people died of starvation, but the city did not give up, despite all the difficulties.

Of course, not all Russian people have a powerful will. At all times and in our country there have been many traitors, cowards, ready to sell their fatherland. However, most Russian people still have willpower, and it manifests itself not only in a dangerous time for the country, but also in everyday life.

How to develop willpower

Very often people decide to dramatically and radically change their lives, gathering all their will into a fist. For example, a person wants to start playing sports from tomorrow. To do this, he decides to get up early every morning, do exercises, run, and after work go to the gym. However, out of habit, after a couple of days of such a rhythm of life, a person gets so tired that he completely abandons his idea, and he no longer wants to train willpower. As a result, instead of a positive result, it turned out only worse.

How to develop strong-willed qualities without harming yourself? First you need to stop postponing the start of your actions, referring to some reasons. For example, promises “I will start doing exercises from Monday” or “I will not eat sweets from the beginning of the month” do not strengthen willpower, but, on the contrary, make it even weaker.

What is will? It is the ability to manage behavior in order to achieve one's goals. That is why you need to start moving towards them today. It’s much easier to get up and do a few exercises right now than to jump straight into heavy loads later.

Willpower training is a systematic process. It is impossible to become a strong-willed person in one day, you need to go to this for a long time and gradually. Every time you make even a small effort on yourself, you get closer to your goal. The main thing is not to kill the desire to develop willpower with wrong actions.

Will is present in many acts of human behavior, helping to overcome resistance, as well as other desires and needs on the way to the intended goal. If, for example, a person does not want to drink a bitter medicine, but he knows that it is extremely necessary for his health, then, by suppressing his reluctance by will power, he forces himself to systematically carry out the prescribed treatment. Another example: a student wants to go to a disco, but he does not have his home test ready for tomorrow. Overcoming momentary desire by an effort of will, the student forces himself to work, setting the goal of tomorrow's success. We observe the manifestation of will in various situations of communication. For example, a person is unpleasant to us, but our further progress objectively depends on him, therefore, by an effort of will, we restrain our hostility, put on a psychological “mask” suitable for this situation, and as a result we achieve our goal.

Most often, a person manifests his will in the following typical situations:

it is necessary to make a choice between two or more equally attractive, but requiring opposite actions, thoughts, goals, feelings, incompatible with each other;

in spite of everything, it is necessary to purposefully move along the path to the intended goal;

On the way of practical human activity, there are internal (fear, uncertainty, doubts) or external (objective circumstances) obstacles that must be overcome.

In other words, the will (its presence or absence) is manifested in all situations related to choice and decision-making. Will is a person's conscious overcoming of difficulties in the way of carrying out an action.

As the main functions will distinguish:

choice of motives and goals;

regulation of motivation for actions with insufficient or excessive motivation;

organization of mental processes into a system that is adequate to the activity performed by a person;

mobilization of physical and mental capabilities in achieving goals in a situation of overcoming obstacles.

Will as a phenomenon of the human psyche attracted the attention of thinkers even in antiquity. Aristotle introduced the concept of will into the system of categories of the science of the soul in order to explain how human behavior is realized in accordance with knowledge, which in itself is devoid of motivating power. The will of Aristotle acted as a factor, along with the desire, capable of changing the course of behavior: to initiate it, stop it, change direction and pace. However, the thinkers of antiquity, and later of the Middle Ages, did not interpret the will in its modern personal understanding. So, in antiquity the concept of "will" was absorbed by the concept of "logic". According to Aristotle, for example, any action follows primarily from a logical conclusion.

During the Middle Ages, there was a rite of exoris - the exorcism of the devil. Man in those days was perceived only as a passive principle, in which the will manifested itself in the form of good and evil spirits (sometimes even personified). Such an understanding of the will was due to the fact that traditional society actually denied an independent principle in behavior. S.I. Rogov * notes that the personality appears in it only as a genus, as a program according to which the ancestors lived. The right to deviate was recognized only for certain members of society, for example, a shaman - a person who communicates with the spirits of ancestors; blacksmith - a man who is subject to the power of fire and metal; a robber - a criminal person who opposed himself to a given society.

* Rogov S.I. General psychology. - M., 1995.

The concept of will, as it were, is reborn in modern times, along with the emergence of the concept of personality, one of the main values of which is free will. A new worldview appears - existentialism, the "philosophy of existence", according to which freedom is absolute, free will. M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, J.-P. Sartre and A. Camus believed that any person is inherently self-willed and irresponsible, and any social norms are the suppression of human essence.

In Russia, an interesting interpretation of the will was presented by I.P. Pavlov, considering the will as an "instinct" (reflex) of freedom. As the instinct of freedom, the will is no less a stimulus for behavior than the instincts of hunger or danger.

Many controversies have arisen and are arising on the question of the conscious or unconscious origin of the concept of "will".

Supporters of idealistic views interpreted as a phenomenon of will the inherent ability of a person to independently choose a goal and ways to achieve it. The ability to make decisions that express personal attitudes and beliefs, they interpreted as the result of the actions of the irrational force behind these acts.

At one time, the German philosophers A. Schopenhauer and E. Hartmann absolutized the will, declaring it a cosmic force, a blind unconscious source, the derivative of which are all mental manifestations of a person.

Psychoanalytic psychology represented the will of a person as a kind of energy of human actions. Supporters of psychoanalysis believed that a person's actions are controlled by a certain biological energy of a person, turned into a psychic one. Freud identified this energy with the psychosexual energy of sexual desire - the unconscious libido, thereby explaining human behavior first by the "cultivated" manifestations of this life-affirming force (Eros), and then by its struggle with the equally subconscious human craving for death (Tantos).

Proponents of the theory of the will as a special supernatural force underlying the psyche and being in general were such well-known psychologists as W. Wundt and W. James.

The theological interpretation of the will is that the will is identified with the divine principle in the world: God is the exclusive owner of free will, endowing people with it at his own discretion.

Materialists interpret the will as a side of the psyche, which has a material basis in the form of nervous brain processes. Volitional or voluntary actions develop on the basis of involuntary movements and actions. The simplest of involuntary actions are reflex actions. This type also includes impulsive actions, unconscious, not subordinate to the general goal of the reaction. In contrast to involuntary, conscious actions of a person are aimed at achieving a goal, which is characteristic of volitional behavior.

The material basis of voluntary movements is the activity of giant pyramidal cells located in one of the layers of the cerebral cortex in the region of the anterior central gyrus. In these cells, impulses to move are born. Scientists came to this conclusion by studying the causes of abulia (painful lack of will), which develops on the basis of brain pathology and appraxia (violations of voluntary regulation of movements and actions that make it impossible to carry out a volitional act), resulting from damage to the frontal lobes of the brain.

The doctrine of the second signal system I.P. Pavlova significantly supplemented the materialistic concept, proving the conditioned reflex essence of the will.

Modern studies of will in psychology are carried out in different scientific areas: in a behaviorally oriented science, certain forms of behavior are studied, in the psychology of motivation, intrapersonal conflicts and ways to overcome them are in the center of attention, in personality psychology, the focus is on identifying and studying the corresponding volitional characteristics of a person. At the same time, modern psychology seeks to give the science of will an integrative character.