Psychology of will. Chapter 2. Will as voluntary control of human behavior and activity (E. P. Ilyin, 2009)

Structure of voluntary action

Where does volitional action begin? Naturally, in awareness of the purpose of the action and the motive that causes it. When there is a clear awareness of the goal and the motive that causes it, the desire for the goal is usually called desire.

But not every desire for a goal is conscious. Depending on the degree of awareness of needs, they are divided into desires and drives. If the desire is conscious, then the attraction is always vague, unclear: a person understands that he wants something, that he lacks something, or that he needs something, but he does not understand what exactly. Usually people experience attraction as a particularly painful state in the form of melancholy or uncertainty. Due to its uncertainty, attraction cannot develop into purposeful activity. For this reason, attraction is often seen as a transitional state. The need it represents usually either disappears or is realized and turned into a specific desire.

But not every desire leads to action. Desire in itself does not contain an active element. Before a desire becomes a direct motive, and then a goal, it is assessed by a person, that is, it is “filtered” through a person’s value system and receives a certain emotional coloring. Everything that is connected with the realization of a goal in the emotional sphere is colored in positive tones, just as everything that is an obstacle to the goal causes negative emotions.

Desire, having stimulating power, sharpens the consciousness of the purpose of future action and the construction of its plan. In the formation of a goal, in turn, its content, nature and significance play a special role. The more significant the goal, the stronger the desire for it can be.

Desires are not always fulfilled immediately. A person sometimes has several uncoordinated and even contradictory desires, and he finds himself in a very difficult situation, not knowing which one to realize. A mental state characterized by a clash of several desires or several different motivations for action is usually called a motivational struggle. The clash of motives involves evaluating the reasons for and against the need to act in a certain direction and thinking about how exactly to act. The final moment of the struggle of motives is the decision-making, which consists in choosing a goal and method of action. The decision maker is decisive; at the same time, he feels responsible for the further course of events.

The executive stage of volitional action has a complex structure. First of all, the execution of a decision is associated with one time or another, that is, with a certain period. If the execution of a decision is postponed for a long time, then in this case we can talk about the intention to fulfill the decision made. We usually talk about intention when faced with a complex activity.

Intention, by its nature, is an internal preparation for a delayed action and represents a decision aimed at achieving a goal. But intention alone is not enough. As in any other volitional action, if there is an intention, one can distinguish the stage of planning ways to achieve the goal. The plan can be detailed to varying degrees. In this case, the scheduled action is not executed immediately. To implement it, a conscious effort of will is required. “Volitional effort is understood as a special state of internal tension or activity, which causes the mobilization of a person’s internal resources necessary to carry out a planned action. Therefore, volitional effort is always associated with a significant expenditure of energy.”

This last stage of volitional action can take two forms: in some cases it manifests itself in external action, and in others in abstaining from any external action (this manifestation is called internal volitional action).

Volitional effort is qualitatively different from muscle tension. During volitional efforts, external movements can be minimal, while internal tension can be quite significant. At the same time, with every volitional effort, more or less strong muscle tension occurs.

In different specific conditions, our manifested volitional effort will differ in intensity. This occurs due to the fact that the intensity of volitional effort depends primarily on external and internal obstacles that arise when performing a volitional action. However, in addition to situational factors, there are also relatively stable factors that determine the intensity of volitional efforts. These include: a person’s worldview, manifested in relation to certain phenomena of the surrounding world; moral stability, which determines the ability to follow the intended path; the degree of self-management and self-organization of the individual, etc. All these factors are formed in the process of human development, his formation as an individual and characterize the level of development of the volitional sphere.

Having determined the structure of volitional action, it is necessary to consider how volitional behavior is regulated, since will, as already indicated, is a person’s ability to act in the direction of a consciously set goal.

Will as a regulator of human behavior

Will helps to exercise self-government of behavior. This occurs due to consciousness, which presupposes the independence of the individual not only in the decision-making process (the so-called “free will”), but also in the initiation of actions, including their implementation and control.

The main essence of the will is represented by the self, which distinguishes voluntary control from involuntary control. Aristotle discovered this quality when considering voluntary regulation.

One of the simplest forms of motor manifestations is spontaneous movements. They are the result of a discharge of energy that has accumulated in the central nervous system. A baby who has just been born screams and moves his arms and legs randomly. These movements are considered partly reflexive, as they are caused by external stimuli. They are partly spontaneous, since the accumulated energy required a discharge, which is expressed through movements.

The next stage includes imitative movements. They are represented by the perception of movements that are performed by other living beings. Next, motor impulses arise that are concentrated on performing the same movements. This type of movement is always conscious or at least semi-conscious. They are classified into the following groups:

free,
Involuntary.

The highest level consists of conscious voluntary movements. They are characterized by a difference from other movements in that they include a new element - volitional tension.

Volitional regulation of behavior

“Volitional regulation of behavior is characterized by a state of optimal mobilization of the individual, the required type of activity, and the concentration of this activity in the required direction.”

The main psychological function of the will is to increase motivation and improve, on this basis, the regulation of actions. This distinguishes volitional actions from impulsive ones, i.e. involuntarily committed and insufficiently controlled by consciousness.

At the human level, the manifestation of will is expressed in such qualities as willpower (the degree of volitional effort necessary to achieve a goal), perseverance (a person’s ability to mobilize his abilities to overcome difficulties for a long time), endurance (the ability to inhibit actions, feelings, thoughts that interfere implementation of the decision), energy, and so on. These are the primary (basic) volitional qualities of a person that determine most behavioral actions.

There are also secondary volitional qualities that develop later in ontogenesis than the primary ones: Decisiveness (the ability to quickly make and implement well-founded and firm decisions), Courage (the ability to overcome fear and take justifiable risks to achieve a goal, despite the danger to personal well-being), Self-control (the ability to control the sensory side of the psyche and subordinate one’s behavior to solving consciously set tasks), Self-confidence. These qualities should be considered not only volitional, but also characterological.

Volitional qualities, closely related to moral ones, should be classified as tertiary qualities: Responsibility (a quality that characterizes a person in terms of fulfilling moral requirements), Discipline (conscious subordination of one’s behavior to generally accepted norms, established order), Integrity (loyalty to a certain idea in one’s beliefs and consistent embodiment of this idea in behavior), Duty (the ability to voluntarily assume responsibilities and fulfill them). This group also includes volitional qualities related to a person’s attitude to work: efficiency, initiative (the ability to work creatively, take actions on one’s own initiative), organization (reasonable planning and ordering of one’s own work), perseverance (diligence, timely completion of assignments and responsibilities) and etc.

Tertiary qualities of will are usually formed only in adolescence, when there is already experience of volitional actions. Volitional actions can be divided into simple and complex. In a simple act of will, the incentive to action (motive) almost automatically becomes the action itself. In a complex volitional act, an action is preceded by thinking about its consequences, awareness of motives, decision-making, the emergence of an intention to commit it, the creation of a plan for its implementation, and so on.

The development of human will is connected with this:

with the transformation of involuntary mental processes into voluntary ones;
with the individual gaining control over his behavior;
with the development of volitional qualities of the individual;

d) with the fact that a person consciously sets himself more and more complex tasks and pursues more and more distant goals, which over time require significant volitional efforts. The formation of volitional qualities of a person can be considered as a movement from primary qualities to secondary ones and then to tertiary ones.

Voluntary regulation can be involved in an activity at any of the stages of its implementation: Initiating an activity, choosing the means and methods for its implementation, following or deviating from a planned plan, monitoring its implementation. The peculiarity of the participation of volitional regulation at the initial moment of activity is that a person, consciously rejecting some instincts, motives and goals, prefers others and implements them contrary to momentary, immediate impulses. Will in choosing an action is manifested in the fact that a person, having consciously abandoned the usual way of solving a problem, chooses another, sometimes more complex, method and tries not to deviate from it. Finally, volitional regulation of control over the execution of actions consists in the fact that a person consciously forces himself to carefully check the correctness of the actions being performed, when there is almost no strength or desire to do this. Particular difficulties in terms of volitional regulation for a person are activities in which problems of volitional control arise throughout the entire path of performing the activity, from beginning to end.

A typical case of the involvement of the will in the management of activity is a situation associated with the struggle of difficultly compatible motives, each of which requires different actions at the same time. Then the consciousness and thinking of a person, even with volitional control of his behavior, look for additional incentives in order to strengthen one of the drives, to give it greater significance in the current situation. Psychologically, this means an active search for a connection between the goal and the activity being performed with the highest spiritual values of a person, consciously giving them much greater significance than they originally had.

Based on the above, it can be emphasized that at the level of the individual, the manifestation of will finds its expression in various qualities, some of which will be discussed in detail in the next section.

Emotional and volitional mental processes

5.1. Emotional Processes

Emotional Process

– the mental process of reflecting in consciousness the subjective meaning of objects and situations (in the form of experiences), influencing the perception, behavior, thinking, motivation, and activity of the individual. Emotional processes are a general term denoting the subjective conscious experience characterized by and associated with the psychophysiological and biological reactions and mental states of the body.

Emotional intellect

(eng. emotional intelligence) - a type of intelligence defined as the ability to correctly and appropriately perceive, evaluate and express emotions, use emotions to facilitate thought processes, understand and analyze emotions, effectively use emotional knowledge, manage your emotions while simultaneously promoting emotional and intellectual development.

Classification of emotional processes

according to their psychological characteristics and patterns of progression:

affects
(English affect, from Latin affectus - emotional excitement) - short-term intense emotional processes, reflecting a subjective assessment of the situation at an unconscious level, manifested in pronounced motor reactions and changes in the functioning of internal organs and systems of the body;
emotions
(English emotion) – emotional processes reflecting a subjective assessment of the situation at a conscious level
,
which, in comparison with affects, are longer and less intense;
feelings
(English feeling) – a subjective representation of emotions belonging to the individual who experiences them;
moods
are diffuse affective states characterized, in comparison with emotions, by longer duration and lower intensity.

Passion

(English passion, from Greek suffer) is a term used to describe intense emotions, strong feelings and desires. In strength, passion is comparable to affect, and in duration - with feelings.

Physiological basis

emotional processes – restructuring of the internal environment of the body for the purpose of adaptation, carried out under the control of specialized structures of the brain. The leading role in emotional processes is played by the cerebral cortex and the centers of the autonomic nervous system located in the subcortical regions of the brain.

The fibers of the autonomic nervous system mediate the work of smooth muscles and endocrine glands, which synthesize and release hormones into the bloodstream that affect blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, blood glucose levels, etc.

In a normal state, the cerebral cortex has an inhibitory effect on the centers of the autonomic nervous system, and external manifestations of emotions and feelings are insignificant. When the cerebral cortex transitions to a state of excessive excitation, the centers of the autonomic nervous system are also overexcited, which leads to vivid emotional manifestations.

Rice.
5.1. Classification of emotional mental processes

Affects

The term affect refers to instinctive reactions to external stimuli that occur before the typical cognitive processes necessary to form more complex emotions. Affect is the most intense form of emotional experience. Most often, strong affect occurs in extreme situations, disrupting the normal functioning of perception and thinking. Affective reactions can occur involuntarily, without intentional perception and cognitive processing.

The reaction to stimuli is dominant in lower organisms and primary for humans. In animals, affects are a defensive reaction and are caused by factors directly related to vital biological needs and instincts. The content and nature of affects are significantly influenced by the social environment and relationships with other people.

Distinctive features of affect:

situational, generalized, short-term, high intensity.

Forms of manifestation of affect:

anger, delight, ecstasy, horror, despair, stupor, constraint.

Emotions

Emotion is a complex pattern of changes involving physiological arousal, feelings, cognitive processes and behavioral reactions in response to situations that are perceived by the subject as personally significant.

Emotions often influence mood, temperament, character, motivation and behavior; they occur under the influence of hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and cortisol. Emotions are often the driving force behind positive/negative motivation and are associated with behavioral trends.

Emotions are mental processes and states associated with the instincts, needs and motives of a person/animal, expressed in the form of experiences. Emotions accompany various manifestations of human activity and are the most important mechanism of internal regulation of human activity and behavior. An important aspect of emotion is cognition, in particular the evaluation and interpretation of events. Basic emotions:

anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise (Paul Ekman, []).

Components
of emotions
:

impressive –
internal manifestations of emotion (for example, increased breathing and heart rate, increased blood pressure);
expressive
- external manifestations of emotions: undifferentiated muscle reactions (trembling, increased tone) and expressive movements of a communicative signaling nature (facial expressions, gestures, posture, voice intonation).

Emotions are not tied to a specific object and arise in relation to the situation as a whole; they can flow intensely and change quickly. Compared to affects, emotions are much longer in time and weaker in strength; some of them may lack an expressive component.

Emotions can reflect the subjective evaluative attitude of not only real, but also virtual situations. The ideational nature of emotions lies in the ability to arise not only in relation to real ones, but also in relation to expected, imaginary situations and events.

Components of emotions:

cognitive assessment of events and situations.
physical symptoms are the physiological component of emotional experience;
action tendencies – a motivational component for preparing and controlling motor reactions;
expression - facial expressions and voice accompanying the emotion show the reaction and intentions of the actions;
feelings are the subjective experience of an experienced emotional state.

Psychological theories of emotions:

Evolutionary Theory of the Origin of Emotions
, by Charles Darwin, “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” 1872. Emotions have evolved through natural selection as vital mechanisms for the organism’s adaptation to the external environment. Physiological changes that accompany emotions are rudiments (residual manifestations) of real adaptive reactions of the body.
Rudimentary theory of emotions
, authors Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903), Théodule Ribot (1839 - 1916) and others. Emotions are the rudiments of affects that accompanied full-fledged biological reactions of the body. Human emotions are biologically derived from the instinctive and affective reactions of animals.
The Structural Theory of Emotions
by James Papertz (1883 – 1958). There is a single system that unites a number of brain structures and forms the brain substrate for emotions - the limbic system.
James-Lange
somatic theory of emotions , authors William James (1842 – 1910), Carl Georg Lange (1834 – 1900). Emotions are secondary to physiological phenomena. The impact of external stimuli on the body causes physiological changes in it, which leads to the emergence of emotions.
Cannon-Bard theory of emotions
, authors Walter Bradford Cannon (1871 – 1945), Philip Bard (1898 – 1977). Emotions are of a sensory nature: in the process of perception, sensory information enters the thalamus, where it is then redistributed: part of the information is transmitted to the cerebral cortex, giving rise to the subjective experience of emotions, and the other part to the hypothalamus, which regulates all functions of the body.
Lindsay-Hebb activation theory
, authors Donald Olding Hebb (1904 – 1985). Emotions are the sensory equivalent of the brain's activating system, capable of activating the cerebral cortex. The activity of the reticular formation of the brain stem, which filters sensory information and transmits it to the limbic system and cerebral cortex, is correlated with the intensity, duration and quality of emotional experience.
Two-factor theory of emotions
, authors Stanley Schechter (1922 - 1997), Jerome Everett Singer (born 1934). Emotion is a combination of two components: quantitative (physiological arousal) and qualitative (cognitive interpretation of arousal).
Biological Theory of Emotions
, by P.K. Anokhin (1898 – 1974). Emotions are a biological product of evolution that implements the mechanism of adaptation of animals to the environment. Negative emotions are caused by the emergence of needs and play a mobilizing role. Satisfaction of needs generates positive emotions.
Need-information theory of emotions
, author P.V.
Simonov (1926 – 2002). The appearance of emotions is caused by a lack/excess of information necessary to satisfy a need. “ Formula of Emotion
”, proposed by P.V.
Simonov: E = P_(Is - In)
, where
E
is an emotion (strength, quality, sign),
P
is a need,
In
is the information necessary to satisfy it,
Is
is the information that the subject has at the time the need arises.
Cognitive dissonance theory
by Leon Festinger (1919 – 1989).
The emergence of negative emotions is caused by cognitive dissonance
(the discrepancy between the expected and the received result), and positive emotions –
by cognitive consonance
(the coincidence of the expected and the actual).
A unified concept of consciousness and emotions
(Yu. I. Aleksandrov []). Consciousness and emotion should not be viewed as separate psychological processes with different neurophysiological mechanisms. In goal-directed behavior, consciousness and emotions perform similar functions, but with different aspects and at different levels. Behavior is both emotional and conscious.

Functions of emotions:

o reflective-evaluative
– allows you to generally reflect and evaluate the situation at a conscious level;
signaling
- psychophysiological and biological reactions signal the need to mobilize and adapt the body to the external environment;
reinforcing
– emotions contribute to the development of conditioned reflexes and more durable memory;
communicative
– emotional response, including syntony (emotional “consonance”), as well as microexpressions that accompany emotions and are not amenable to conscious control, help improve mutual understanding between participants in a communicative act;
control
– emotions act as a mechanism for internal regulation of activity and behavior;
mobilizing
– physiological changes that accompany emotions mobilize the body in extreme situations; emotions are the stimulants (motives) of an individual’s activity and behavior;
compensatory
- emotions allow you to compensate for the shortcomings of other mental phenomena.

Classification of types of emotions

Based on the nature of the needs underlying emotions, the following types of emotions are distinguished:
- lower
  - emotions associated with the satisfaction of natural (organic) needs (for oxygen, water, food, etc.), inherent in both animals and humans;
By valence
(
I'm drowning
) emotions can be
positive
(joy, interest) or
negative
(fear, anger, rage). It is interesting that in humans the number of negative emotions is several times greater than the number of positive ones.
Ambivalence
Read also: What is the structure and components of communication in psychology?
– simultaneous experience of emotions of opposite signs.
Based on intensity
(
strength
),
strong
and
weak
emotions are distinguished; The stronger the emotion, the more pronounced its impressive and expressive components will be.
By influence on activity
There are different types of emotions:
- sthenic
  (from ancient Greek strength) - increase the vital activity of the body, mobilize, encourage active activity (joy, enthusiasm, delight, etc.);

Emotional disorders

The following pathologies of the emotional sphere of personality are distinguished:

affective excitability
- a tendency to too easily experience strong emotional experiences that do not correspond to the situation that caused them;
affective weakness
– excessive emotional sensitivity to all external stimuli; anger is a type of affective weakness;
affective lethargy
– rigidity, inertia of emotional reactions, combined with a tendency to fixate on negative experiences; may be accompanied by excessive touchiness, pathological resentment;
affective exhaustion is
the short duration of vivid emotional manifestations, which are then replaced by weakness and indifference.

Volitional personality traits

The qualities of a strong-willed personality include, first of all: independence, determination, perseverance, perseverance, and self-control.

Independence is a strong-willed quality that manifests itself in a person’s ability to set goals on his own initiative and realize them, overcoming obstacles. An independent person is convinced of the correctness of his goal and will fight with all his might to achieve it. At the same time, independence does not exclude the use of advice and suggestions from other people to assess the possibility of achieving a goal. The opposite qualities of independence are suggestibility and negativism. All weak-willed people who do not know what to do in the current situation are susceptible to the motivating nature, and are always waiting for advice or instructions from other people.

Negativism is a negative quality of will, under the influence of which a person commits actions that contradict the correct and appropriate advice of other people. Negativism most often manifests itself in adolescents who want to demonstrate their independence and autonomy from adults.

Determination is one of the important volitional personality traits, which manifests itself at the initial stage of volitional behavior, when a person has to make efforts to choose the goal of action.

Indecisiveness is a negative volitional trait that prevents a person from quickly making the right decision and performing a volitional action.

Perseverance is the most important quality of will, which manifests itself in a person’s ability to patiently overcome all difficulties that arise on the way to achieving a goal. This quality is inherent in people who can exert strong will over a long period of time to solve a problem in the best possible way and achieve the best results.

Persistence is a quality of will that helps a person achieve his goal at any cost, despite all obstacles and opposition. A persistent person is convinced of the correctness of the chosen path, understands the expediency of his actions and the need to achieve the desired results.

Stubbornness is a negative quality of will, the opposite of perseverance. A stubborn person recklessly strives for a goal, even if it is of little importance to him and cannot be realized at the moment. Self-control is a strong-willed trait that gives a person the ability to self-regulate in the most difficult, extreme conditions of existence, mobilizing all his mental and physical resources.

All these qualities are not present in a person in finished form, but are formed and developed in the process of life. They are formed in childhood under the influence of upbringing and play activities. Parents try to raise their children to be strong, dexterous, persistent, courageous, able to overcome difficulties and consciously regulate their behavior.

Play is especially important for the development of volitional skills. Role-playing and rules-based games encourage children to exercise willpower to best fulfill their role and perform better than others in the game in following the rules.

At school age, the development of will is influenced by educational activities, which are mandatory and require students to behave not “as they want,” but “as they should.” To successfully acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes, students must use their mental and physical energy, perseverance and perseverance in overcoming difficulties.

“Self-education is of great importance in the development of strong-willed qualities. In no other area of mental activity does self-education play such a role as in the formation of the will. Only self-education can give a person the opportunity to control himself, show volitional efforts, mobilize all his resources to overcome difficulties, overcome negative personality traits and bad habits.”

Motivation as a subjective component of activity

In activity, one can distinguish objective and subjective components. The objective components of the activity structure include: subject content (what the activity is aimed at - the subject of the activity, and those conditions on which the success of actions and operations depends), as well as the structure (structure) of the activity, which includes: 1) the activity as a holistic and completed activity in accordance with the final result that corresponds to the motive; 2) action as activity aimed at achieving intermediate results of activity (for a person this is a conscious goal as an intermediate result); 3) operation as a method of human action (or a method of animal activity) that meets the specific conditions of the chosen action. The operation is determined by the means used (natural - beak, wings, claws, teeth, etc. or a deliberately created auxiliary means (tool)) [Leontyev, 1975, 1981]. The subjective components of activity include all mental processes that ensure initiation (motivation) and success of activity and individual actions. They function in activity as its independent links (moments), providing the subject with an incentive to activity, guidelines for activity, skills in performing operations and regulation of activity. The inclusion of motivation as a subjective component in the structure of activity means that in activity theory the problem of motivation can only be considered in connection with the task of generating activity, and not as something independent [Ivannikov, 2010]. The concept of motive and motivation appeared in psychology relatively recently. Until the end of the 19th century, and in some scientific schools almost until the middle of the 20th century, the cause of behavior was considered either the free will of man or the instincts and reflexes of animals. The concept of instinct connected the necessity of behavior of living beings with their condition. The reason for behavior has always been within a living being. The reflex theory, on the contrary, saw the cause of the behavior of living beings in external physical influences, in changes in the environment that cause a response of the body according to the principles of mechanics. The nature of the response behavior was determined by the structure of the body of a living being (living machine). What was common to the theory of instinct and the theory of reflex was the empirically observed instantaneous generation of the behavior of living beings either by the internal state of the organism or by an event in the external environment. In simple laboratory situations, this pattern of behavior still somehow worked, but the study of the complex behavior of animals in the natural conditions of their lives showed the unacceptability of both the principles of instinct and the principles of reflex to explain behavior. And, of course, human creative labor activity did not fit into this scheme in any way. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became clear that neither internal conditions (changes in the body) nor external events by themselves can provide the initiation (motivation) of adaptive behavior. Therefore, K. Levin turns to the idea of the valence of environmental objects (their incentive) and the concept of “living environment,” and supporters of the theory of instinct and the reflex approach began to talk about the role of the state of the body and environmental afferentation [Vilyunas, 1990; Levin, 2001]. The most successful way out of this situation seemed to be an appeal to the concept of motive and motivation. The concept of motive combines both the ability to cause (initiate, encourage, create intention) the desired behavior, and the ability to be what the behavior was carried out for. This duality in the content of the concept of “motive” has survived to this day, creating difficulties in using this concept to analyze behavior, ultimately showing the incompatibility of the ability to motivate and the ability to determine the direction of behavior in one formation - motive. If a motive is understood as a motivator, then in this case motives cannot be stored and constitute the motivational sphere of a person with a hierarchy of motives, and we must abandon the concept of a motivational sphere. If a motive is understood as that for which an activity is performed, then the motive cannot motivate the activity of a living being, although it can create a readiness for behavior and determine its direction. A.N. Leontiev’s proposal to understand a motive as an object of need, that is, as an abstract designation of everything that can satisfy a given need, involves ensuring the task of establishing the direction of behavior that meets a given motive and ensuring readiness for behavior. In this case, ensuring the initiation (motivation) of activity and individual actions that implement the activity must be the result of a special independent process included in the general task of generating activity as its link.

The most significant signs of an act of will:

§ Reflection on one’s own needs, drives, motives (their awareness and assessment).

In moments of “overcoming oneself,” from the point of view of V.I. Selivanov, a person’s consciousness temporarily breaks away from the object, subject of activity or partner and switches to the plane of subjective relations. In this case, conscious reflection is carried out at different levels. First level

– the subject’s awareness of his methods of action, his state, mode and direction of activity;
understanding the degree of correspondence of the functional organization of the psyche to the necessary form of activity. The second level
is an active change in the functioning of the psyche, choosing the necessary method of transforming it.

§ Applying efforts, making decisions and implementing them. A volitional decision is made in the context of a struggle of motives and competition of multidirectional drives.

§ Availability and implementation of a well-thought-out action plan. The will is inextricably linked with the available plan of action. Through volitional action, a person plans to implement the goal facing him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan.

§ Volitional effort. Overcoming obstacles requires volitional effort - a special state of neuropsychic tension that mobilizes a person’s physical, intellectual and moral strength. Will manifests itself as a person’s confidence in his own abilities, as the determination to perform the act that the person himself considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation. “Free will means the ability to make decisions with knowledge.”

§ Increased attention to action and lack of direct pleasure received in the process and as a result of its implementation. a person overcomes not so much circumstances as himself.

Methodological recommendations for studying the topic:

To solve the problem of will, it is important to answer two questions - “What or who is the source of human mental activity” and “How does the will relate to other mental processes.”

On the first question in the history of psychology there are different points of view.

The opinion was expressed that the human will is a manifestation of an intense spiritual substance (R. Descartes originally wrote about this); these ideas were later developed by theological concepts. Will was also considered as a manifestation of a person’s internal forces (B. Spinoza, G. Hobbes), which is consistent with the principle of self-organization. V. Wundt derived the will from affects, other authors derive the will from needs and motives or connect it with the personality as a whole, and the needs are assigned only the role of the initiator of impulsive behavior.

There are also many opinions on the second question. Traditionally, will is considered in a trinity with cognitive and emotional properties: “cognition - feeling-will”. Recently, the opinion has been expressed that will is a more complex phenomenon - it is the ability of an individual to control his motives-goals, states, actions, thoughts, it is their derivative. In a number of cases, will is opposed to consciousness - with the help of consciousness, a person comprehends the phenomena of objective reality, with the help of will, he is freed from the captivity of actual needs. V.I. Selivanov believes that the will should correlate with the entire consciousness as a whole, and not with its individual parts.

In the twentieth century in psychology, the concept of will was pushed to the periphery, and it was not among the main concepts. Intensive theoretical and experimental research was carried out abroad in the 1930s, then interest sharply declined. Psychology textbooks did not even have a chapter devoted to will. There is now a resurgence in research on will.

Regarding will, it should be remembered that this concept was introduced because there are real mental phenomena of volitional regulation of behavior, and the task of psychology is to find one or another mechanism (or mechanisms) that ensures volitional regulation.

7 pages, 3458 words

Psychology of human motivation 2

... The lag in the study of the motivational sphere of a person is also explained by the following: giving a lot of ... will and some interesting psychological facts and specific patterns have been established. It can be considered that it was K. Lewin’s research that laid the foundation for the study of human needs in psychology. ...

Will is also studied by other sciences, so the problem of free will and responsibility is the subject of legal sciences, philosophy, and physiology.

When studying the topic, it is necessary to understand how voluntary regulation of behavior differs from volitional regulation. You should pay attention to what the problem of will in psychology is.