Volitional effort as one of the mechanisms of volitional regulation

Will determines the ability to achieve success: it reveals how easily one gets down to work, resists temptations, defeats procrastination and laziness, gets rid of irritants, and puts long-term results above desires for short-term pleasures.

Will in psychology, according to Wikipedia, is a person’s ability to make decisions based on the thought process and direct their thoughts and actions in accordance with the decision made. Simply put, if you made a decision to do something, but no action followed, it means that the decision was not made, and the will was suppressed by fear, stress or laziness.

Modern psychologists suggest that weakness of will may be caused by one or more of the following reasons:

• lack of suitable goals;
• indecision caused by shifting attention from one course of action to another;
• inability to choose between alternative courses of action;
• inability to make a firm decision;
• inability to break bad habits;
• inability to resist desires, impulses and urges.

Functions of the will

The will has two functions: incentive and inhibitory.

A driving will is an action or set of actions that you need to take (instilling a good habit). Inhibitory - an action that does not need to be performed (eradicating a bad habit).

Will is manifested to one degree or another in all people. However, many, despite the fact that they rationally understand that bad behavior or habit destroys life and can be very expensive (sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption, smoking), change their lifestyle and behavior only for a short period of time. After a few days, weeks or months, habit takes over and the will becomes overwhelmed. Until the hour when sufficiently strong fear or self-loathing arises again.

There is a certain threshold of desire that separates motivation and will: when the desire lies below this threshold, it is motivation, and when it crosses it, the action becomes volitional.

Volitional actions

Volitional actions are consciously controlled actions that are aimed at overcoming difficulties and obstacles in achieving set goals. They arise at a moment when a person is deprived of motivation, vitality and energy, but at the same time clearly understands what and why he needs to do.

The most important components of volitional actions:

• setting goals;
• thinking through ways and techniques to achieve the goal;
• action planning;
• overcoming negative motives;
• decision-making;
• implementation of the decision made;
• evaluation of what has been done;
• formation of an attitude to perform volitional actions in the future.

Volitional action is a rather complex process, including a whole chain of different stages and a sequence of different stages and phases. In the modern world there are so many irritants (advertising, the Internet, sounds) that it becomes increasingly difficult for a person to cultivate this valuable quality that largely determines success.

Properties and character traits

Volitional activity has certain qualities. Its strength determines the degree of excitation of the volitional effort. Stability is expressed in the constancy of manifestations of volitional characteristics in similar life situations. Latitude covers all types of activities that a person engages in in his life, making any volitional efforts - study, sports, work, etc.

The volitional qualities of a person cannot exist independently of other character traits of a person. They can be grouped into three groups:

• Moral-volitional.
• Emotionally-volitional.
• Actually strong-willed.

The first include qualities of a disciplinary nature. A person is characterized by independence and responsibility; he cannot be a passive observer of events, but takes an active and energetic part in them. The second block includes characteristics that affect the ability to remain cool in any situation. These include endurance and calmness, the ability to firmly endure inconvenience and restrain one’s physiological needs.

In fact, strong-willed people are considered to be persistent, strong-willed and courageous people who show determination and courage in unusual situations.

These traits most clearly reveal the characteristics of a person’s personality. They can be contrasted with lack of will as a synonym for submission to someone else’s will in the absence of one’s own. Indifference is also the opposite of will, because a person with an indifferent character does not have strong emotions, and therefore is not aware of his feelings and has no power over them.

What you need to know about will

Lack of will is the highest barrier that prevents a person from changing. The problem is that it needs to be used on a daily basis, not every now and then to create a good habit or break a bad one. All our serious goals and plans collapse precisely because of our inability to control our will.

The concept of delayed gratification is closely related to will. In simple terms, it is the ability to focus on a long-term goal so as not to notice instant gratification that can interfere with plans. A week of intense training at the gym won't matter if we have a wild weekend of eating nothing but pizza and drinking.

Will is a limited resource. If we try to change, for example, stop acting impulsively, then by the evening we may experience depression and frustration. This threatens to return to an old habit. However, two points should be taken into account. First: the will can be trained - and thus we will be able to exercise it much longer during the day. Second: willpower can be wasted if you do not do what you need.

Since will is a limited resource, you need to plan your day in such a way as not to waste it. For example, avoiding places that may trigger a bad habit.

A high level of willpower almost always means high self-esteem (after all, we have something to be proud of), the ability to resist temptations in the form of alcohol, cigarettes and overeating, and improved mental and physical health.

Depleted willpower makes a person impulsive. This means that if you feel that your will is at zero, you need to do everything possible to remove temptations out of sight.

If you are convinced of the exceptional importance of developing the will, let's see exactly how this can be done. Remember that you have a long journey ahead, perhaps life-long.

1

Develop moral qualities

Researcher Kurt Gray, a doctorate in psychology at Harvard, explains this effect as a self-fulfilling prophecy: “People around them consider highly moral people to be more strong-willed and disciplined, able to endure discomfort without losing their heads.”

The researcher is confident that Gandhi or Mother Teresa were most likely not born strong-willed people, but became such by trying to help others. He introduces the concept of “moral transformation” because he suggests that moral actions can transform people from being lazy and procrastinating to strong-willed.

2

Don't waste your will

If you try really hard, you can completely exhaust your will by noon, which will have a catastrophic effect on the rest of the day and those important decisions that you will never be able to make.

For example, you set a goal to change your character, as Franklin did: allocate one or two weeks to one quality. It's a long marathon, so there's a lot to plan for.

Make not very important decisions in advance, which usually “suck” your energy. Create a menu for the coming months and stick to it. Buy the same shirts, trousers and shoes so as not to waste mental resources constantly thinking about what to wear and wear. Here and now you need to make only those decisions that concern your character. Take care of the rest in advance.

The same tips apply to other areas of life: losing weight, getting rid of bad habits, achieving the Advanced level in learning English and much more. Make all the non-important decisions in advance and focus only on the most important ones. Don't waste your will.

3

Have a self-reflection session

For this you will need a diary. Write down all the actions that you perform unconsciously (they have become habitual), but which you want to get rid of. For example:

• While working, I am constantly distracted by news sites.
• While reading, I like to be distracted by my phone.
• During a conversation, I focus on what I want to say, and not on the words of the interlocutor.

If you make a list of at least ten points, this can already be called a good self-reflection session. Now choose your two most destructive habits.

Write down what sequential actions these unwanted habits consist of. Actions should also be understood as thoughts and emotions associated with them. For example, if you tend not to listen when you're talking to someone, notice what thoughts or beliefs pop into your head. Probably, they are the ones that prevent you from concentrating on productive dialogue. Examine the nature of these thoughts.

Think about how you can stop this behavior. Remember that you can be conscious in every action you take. It's about habit, the main thing is to recognize the sequence of steps.

Over the next month, take full control of these two habits.

4

Stop for three seconds

Our life is a kilometer-long chain of habits. Some of them help, others hinder.

Throughout the day, stop in the middle of any activity (unless you're driving, of course) and think about what stage of which habit you are currently in. If we are talking about consuming bad food, then even pleasant thoughts about Coca-Cola are already part of the habit. Think for three seconds: what will this thought lead to? Of course, to the hype: “without cola I will be an unhappy person, but with cola I will be the happiest person on the planet.” Then go and buy it. Remember further: after you drank this soda, how do you feel? And in half an hour? It can be revealed that in fact you were deceiving yourself, becoming a victim of advertising and habit.

Try to be aware of yourself for three seconds as often as possible throughout the day. Using this method, you can get rid of the irresistible desire to criticize, get angry and be offended. Once “three seconds” becomes a habit, you will no longer exhaust your willpower with this exercise (it will begin to be performed automatically) and you will be able to change, motivate yourself to work, or stop unwanted actions much faster and more effectively.

We wish you good luck!

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We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Mental processes: types and brief description
• Halperin's theory of mental action
• What is the implementation of intentions
• How to review your progress over the past six months
• Overcoming Negative Behavior
• Spheres of personality
• All about habits +Marathon!
• Formation of useful habits
• Volitional personality traits
• Strategy for overcoming bad habits

Key words:1Psychoregulation, 4Psychoregulation

The concept of will. Theories, functions, structure of the volitional act.

Test on the topic

: “The concept of will. Theories, functions, structure

act of will"

Plan:

1. The concept of will. Theories, functions, structure of the volitional act.
2. Development of volitional human behavior.
3. The importance of volitional activity of the individual (manager, entrepreneur).
4. List of used literature.

1. The concept of will. Theories, functions, structure of the volitional act.

Often, when making a decision and understanding the need to act, a person is in no hurry to implement it. For example, many people waking up in the morning and realizing that they need to get up, do not immediately do it and lie in bed for at least a few minutes. Even psychologists cannot always explain why people sometimes do nothing to implement their plans, decisions, or satisfy even urgently necessary needs. When people with the necessary knowledge, holding similar beliefs and views on life, begin to solve the task facing them with varying degrees of intensity, or when, when faced with difficulties, some of them stop trying, while others act with renewed energy - these phenomena are associated with such a feature of the psyche as will.

Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties when performing purposeful actions and deeds.

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 task of the will is to control our behavior, conscious self-regulation of our activity, especially in cases where obstacles to a normal life arise.

Theories of will:

Voluntarism (theory):

a movement in psychology and philosophy that recognizes the will as special, above the natural force that underlies the psyche and being in general. In psychology, it manifests itself as the affirmation of the will as a primary ability, conditioned only by the subject and determining all other mental processes and phenomena. Voluntarism interprets the inherent ability of a person to make independent decisions, choose goals and ways to achieve it, expressing his personal attitudes, beliefs and values ​​as the effect of the action of a special irrational spiritual essence (will) standing above these acts.

Theory L.M. Wecker: the author believes that volitional regulation begins when a person is affected by a two-level hierarchy of activity programs, where it is necessary to correlate the levels of these programs and select among them the level that meets the criteria of intellectual, emotional, moral and general social value.

Functions of an act of will:

The function of volitional regulation is to increase the efficiency of the corresponding activity, and volitional action appears as a conscious, purposeful action of a person to overcome external and internal obstacles with the help of volitional efforts.

1. At the personal level, will manifests itself in such properties as willpower, energy, perseverance, endurance, etc. They can be considered as primary, or basic, volitional qualities of a person. Such qualities determine behavior that is characterized by all or most of the properties described above.

2. A strong-willed person is distinguished by determination, courage, self-control, and self-confidence. Such qualities usually develop in ontogenesis somewhat later than the group of properties mentioned above. In life, they manifest themselves in unity with character, so they can be considered not only as volitional, but also as characterological. Let's call these qualities secondary.

3. This is a group of qualities that, while reflecting a person’s will, are at the same time associated with his moral and value orientations. This is responsibility, discipline, integrity, commitment. This group, designated as tertiary qualities, includes those in which the will of a person and his attitude to work simultaneously appear: efficiency, initiative.

According to V.A. Ivannikov, the main psychological function of the will is to strengthen motivation and improve, on this basis, the conscious regulation of actions. The real mechanism for generating an additional incentive to action is a conscious change in the meaning of the action by the person performing it. The meaning of an action is usually associated with a struggle of motives and changes with certain, deliberate mental efforts.

Volitional action, the need for it, arises when an obstacle appears on the path to carrying out motivated activity. An act of will is associated with overcoming it. First, however, it is necessary to understand and comprehend the essence of the problem that has arisen. Volitional regulation is necessary in order to keep in the field of consciousness for a long time the object that a person is thinking about and to maintain attention concentrated on it. The will is involved in the regulation of almost all basic mental functions: sensations, perception, imagination, memory, thinking and speech.

Structure of an act of will:

An act of will may have a different structure, depending on the number of components, and the duration of the stages of its implementation. Volitional actions can be simple and complex.

Simple volitional actions include those in which a person, without hesitation, goes towards the intended goal, that is, the incentive to action directly turns into the action itself. In a complex act of will, at least four phases can be distinguished:

1. Characterizes the beginning of a volitional act. An act of will begins with the emergence of an impulse, which is expressed in the desire to do something. As the goal is realized, this desire turns into a desire, to which is added the installation for its implementation. If the orientation towards realizing the goal has not been formed, then the act of will may end there before it has even begun. Thus, for the emergence of a volitional act, the emergence of motives and their transformation into goals is necessary.

2. Characterized by the active inclusion of cognitive and mental processes. At this stage, the motivational part of the action or deed is formed. The fact is that the motives that appeared at the first stage in the form of desires may contradict each other. And the individual is forced to analyze these motives, remove the contradictions that exist between them, and make a choice.

3. Associated with the acceptance of one of the possibilities as a solution. However, not all people make decisions quickly; prolonged hesitation is possible while searching for additional facts that will help confirm their decision.

4. Execution of this decision and achievement of the goal. Without execution of the decision, the act of will is considered incomplete. Execution of a decision presupposes overcoming external obstacles and objective difficulties of the case itself.

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 an act of will is always associated with a feeling of neuropsychic tension. The importance of objective content in determining an act of will very clearly affects negative phenomena: suggestion, negativism and stubbornness.

They speak of suggestion where the subject’s decision is determined by another person, regardless of how objective the justification for such a decision is. With suggestion, the influence coming from another person determines the decision, regardless of what it essentially means. With suggestion, in other words, there is an automatic transfer of a decision from one person to another, eliminating the elements of a genuine act of will - making a decision based on weighed motives. Negativism manifests itself in unmotivated volitional opposition to everything that comes from others. Negativism hides not strength, but weakness of will, when the subject is unable to maintain sufficient internal freedom in relation to the desires of others in order to weigh them on their merits and, on this basis, accept them or reject them. Just as with suggestibility the subject accepts, so with negativism he rejects, regardless of the objective content justifying the decision. With stubbornness, the subject persists in his decision only because this decision comes from him. Stubbornness differs from persistence in its objective groundlessness. The decision in case of stubbornness is of a formal nature, since it is made without regard to the essence or objective content of the decision made.

1. Development of volitional human behavior.

The development of volitional regulation of behavior in humans occurs in several directions. On the one hand, this is the transformation of involuntary mental processes into voluntary ones, on the other hand, “gaining a person” control over his behavior, on the third, the development of volitional qualities of the individual. All these processes ontogenetically begin from the moment in life when the child masters speech and learns to use it as an effective means of mental and behavioral self-regulation. Within each of these directions of development of the will, as it strengthens, its own specific transformations occur, gradually raising the process and mechanisms of volitional regulation to higher levels. For example, within cognitive processes, the will first appears in the form of external speech regulation and only then - in terms of the internal speech process. In the behavioral aspect, volitional control first concerns voluntary movements of individual parts of the body, and subsequently - planning and control of complex sets of movements, including inhibition of some and activation of other muscle complexes. In the field of formation of volitional qualities of a person, the development of will can be represented as a movement from primary to secondary and then to tertiary volitional qualities.

Another direction in the development of the will is manifested in the fact that a person consciously sets himself more and more difficult tasks and pursues more and more distant goals that require the application of significant volitional efforts for quite a long time. For example, a schoolchild, while still in adolescence, may set himself the task of developing abilities for which he does not have clear natural inclinations. At the same time, he can set himself the goal of engaging in a complex and prestigious activity in the future, the successful implementation of which requires such abilities. There are many life examples of how people who became famous scientists, artists, writers achieved their goals without having good inclinations, mainly due to increased efficiency and will. The development of will in children is closely correlated with the enrichment of their motivational and moral sphere. The inclusion of higher motives and values ​​in the regulation of activity, increasing their status in the general hierarchy of incentives that govern activity, the ability to highlight and evaluate the moral side of performed actions - all these are important points in the education of will in children. Games play a special role in the development of will in children in all of these areas, and each type of play activity makes its own specific contribution to the improvement of the volitional process. Constructive object-based games, which appear first in a child’s age-related development, contribute to the accelerated formation of voluntary regulation of actions. Role-playing games lead to the consolidation of the necessary volitional personality traits in the child. In addition to this task, collective games with rules solve another problem: strengthening the self-regulation of actions.

Will as a conscious organization and self-regulation of activity aimed at overcoming internal difficulties is, first of all, power over oneself, over one’s feelings and actions. It is well known that different people have different degrees of expression of this power. Ordinary consciousness records a huge range of individual characteristics of the will, differing in the intensity of their manifestations, characterized at one pole as strength, and at the other as weakness of will. A person with a strong will knows how to overcome any difficulties encountered on the way to achieving his goal, and at the same time displays such strong-willed qualities as determination, courage, boldness, and endurance. Weak-willed people give in to difficulties, do not show determination, persistence, do not know how to restrain themselves, suppress momentary impulses in the name of higher, morally justified motives of behavior and activity.

The range of manifestations of weak will is as wide as the characteristic qualities of a strong will. The extreme degree of weakness of will is beyond the bounds of the mental norm. These include, for example, abulia and apraxia. Abulia —

This is a lack of motivation for activity arising on the basis of brain pathology, the inability, when understanding the need, to make a decision to act or carry it out.
Apraxia is
a complex disorder of purposeful action caused by damage to brain structures. If the damage to the nervous tissue is localized in the frontal lobes of the brain, apraxia occurs, manifested in a violation of the voluntary regulation of movements and actions that do not obey a given program and, therefore, make it impossible to carry out a volitional act.

Abulia and apraxia are relatively rare phenomena characteristic of people with severe mental disorders. The most typical manifestation of weak will is laziness - a person’s desire to refuse to overcome difficulties, a persistent reluctance to make an effort of will. It is noteworthy that many people, otherwise less inclined to admit to any shortcomings, very easily admit this defect. Laziness —

evidence of a person’s powerlessness and lethargy, his inability to live, and his indifference to the common cause.
A lazy person usually has external control and is therefore irresponsible. Laziness, as well as other manifestations of weakness - cowardice, indecisiveness, lack of restraint, etc. are serious defects in personality development; overcoming them requires serious educational work, and above all, the organization of self-education. Among the most important conditions for the formation of a person’s will is strict adherence to the daily routine, the correct routine of a person’s entire life. Observations of weak-willed people show that, as a rule, they do not know how to organize their work or their rest. Grasping at one thing or another, they do not bring anything to the end. A strong-willed person is the master of his time. Reasonably organizing his activities, he slowly carries out his plans, his behavior is characterized by composure and purposefulness.

1. The importance of volitional activity of the individual (manager, entrepreneur).

In the process of cognition of reality, a person has different attitudes towards objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. He feels sympathy for some, is happy about some things, is sad about some things, and is afraid of others. Emotions, thus, enter into the process of human cognition as a specific type of subjective reflection of reality. But emotions become the subject of a person’s attention, primarily when they are hindered in some way. Striving to more and more effectively control the world around him, a person does not want to accept the fact that something may exist within himself that nullifies his efforts and interferes with the implementation of his intentions. And when emotions take over, this is often what happens.

The will directs or restrains a person’s activity, organizes mental activity, based on the existing tasks and requirements of both the problem situation and the specific social requirements of a particular social group. Initially, the concept of will was introduced to explain motives and actions carried out according to a person’s own decisions, but not in accordance with his desires. Then it began to be used to explain the possibility of free choice when there is a conflict of human desires associated with the formulation of problems of free will.

Now, in the new conditions of life, the strong-willed qualities of a leader are of particular importance:

1. perseverance in work;

2. perseverance and determination;

3. fostering the need to finish what is started.

An important basis for a business person’s performance is an active, good mood. Powerful intellectual and emotional potential is a colossal factor in health. Love for one's work gives the manager new impulses to work. A positive emotional state is important for performance and health. To maintain creative activity, a leader must live and work in an atmosphere of goodwill.

In professional activity, the role of will, in general, and volitional qualities, in particular, is very significant, since in the process of work external and internal difficulties often arise, without overcoming which the activity cannot be successful. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that the importance of certain volitional qualities, such as determination, determination, initiative and independence, perseverance and perseverance, self-control and endurance, is unequal for different professions. The role and significance of one or another volitional quality is determined by the nature of the activity, the characteristics of the professional environment, and specific difficulties.

Positive qualities of will and manifestations of its strength ensure the success of activities and characterize a person’s personality from the best side.
The list of such strong-willed qualities is very long: 1. Courage is a complex personality quality that presupposes not only courage, but also perseverance, endurance, self-confidence, and the rightness of one’s cause. Courage is manifested in a person’s ability to achieve a goal, despite the danger to life and personal well-being, overcoming adversity, suffering and deprivation. 2. Perseverance is a strong-willed personality trait, which manifests itself in the ability to follow through on decisions made, achieve a set goal, overcoming any obstacles on the way to it. 3. Decisiveness
is an individual quality of will associated with the ability and ability to independently make responsible decisions and steadily implement them in activities. For a decisive person, the beginning of the struggle of motives soon ends with the adoption and execution of a decision. Showing decisiveness is not always an instantaneous, but always a timely decision made with knowledge of the matter, taking into account the circumstances. Hasty decisions often indicate not so much determination as a person’s desire to get rid of internal tension and discussion of motives, which rather indicates weakness rather than willpower. On the other hand, constantly delaying the adoption or execution of a decision, putting it “on the back burner”, in turn, speaks of underdevelopment of the will. 4. Independence is a strong-willed personality trait, manifested in the ability to set goals on one’s own initiative, find ways to achieve them and practically implement decisions made. An independent person does not give in to attempts to persuade him to take actions that are not consistent with his beliefs. The opposite quality to independence is suggestibility. A suggestible person easily succumbs to the influence of others, he does not know how to think critically about other people's advice, resist them, he accepts any other people's advice, even obviously untenable ones.

Will not only stimulates human activity aimed at overcoming difficulties, but also inhibits its manifestation when it is necessary to achieve the goal. Thanks to the incentive and inhibitory functions, the will allows a person to regulate his activities and behavior in the most difficult conditions. These functions of the will are aimed at overcoming external and internal obstacles and require a person to exert all his mental and physical strength. When a state of tension aimed at implementing the incentive and inhibitory functions of the will manifests itself everywhere, it is consolidated and becomes a volitional property or quality of the individual.

A leader is a person who is officially entrusted with the functions of managing a team and organizing its activities. The leader bears legal responsibility for the functioning of the group (collective) to the authority that appointed (elected, approved) him and has strictly defined possibilities for authorization - punishment and reward, subordinates in order to influence their production (scientific, creative, etc.) activity.

Key qualities of a leader:

1. Intelligence. He should be above average, but not at the level of genius.
2. The ability to solve complex and abstract problems is essential;
3. Initiative and business activity. Assumes the presence of a motive for action, independence and resourcefulness;
4. Self-confidence associated with high self-esteem of competence and a high level of aspirations;
5. The so-called “helicopter factor,” or the ability to rise above the particulars and perceive a situation in a broader context.

In management activities, the following rules must be observed:

1) provide conditions for the success of the employee’s activities, but do not significantly facilitate his tasks;

2) to intensify the employee’s independent activity, to arouse in him a feeling of joy from what has been achieved, to increase his faith in his ability to overcome difficulties;

3) explain the expediency of those requirements, orders, decisions that the manager presents to the employee, and provide the employee with the opportunity to make decisions independently within reasonable limits.

The results of any volitional action have two consequences for a person: first, it is the achievement of a specific goal; the second is due to the fact that a person evaluates his actions and learns appropriate lessons for the future regarding the ways to achieve the goal and the effort expended.

List of used literature:

1. Ilyin, E. P. Psychology of will - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000.
2. Ivannikov, V. A. Psychological mechanisms of volitional regulation - M., 1998.
3. Nemov R.S. Psychology - M., 1998.
4. Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology - St. Petersburg, 1999.