Definition of the concept of will in psychology and its main characteristics, properties and structure, types of will, human will, psychology, what it is, concept.

What is will: definitions

Will represents the conscious regulation by each individual of his actions and actions, the implementation of which requires moral and physical costs.
Will is a form of mental reflection in which the reflected object is the set goal, the motivation for its achievement and the existing objective obstacles to implementation; reflected is considered to be a subjective goal, a struggle of contradictions, one’s own volitional effort; the result of the manifestation of will is the achievement of goals and the satisfaction of one’s own desires. It is worth noting that the obstacles that a person has to face are both internal and external.
Will is the side of consciousness, which is a kind of lever of activity and regulation of the beginning, designed to create efforts and maintain them for as long as necessary.

In short, we can combine all of the above and conclude that will is the skill of every person , which manifests itself in self-determination and self-regulation of his own activities and various mental processes.

This is interesting: what is meant by the concept of “degrading”?

Classification

Modern psychology divides human will into three types:

Spiritual or free. Developed among believers. They independently decide to limit themselves from worldly goods and lead an ascetic lifestyle.
Natural. Inherent in any individual, but developed to varying degrees. Helps to overcome various difficulties on the way to the intended goal, gives motivation for action.
Forced. It occurs when a person acts depending on the imposed opinions of other people.

The last type of will is control, which is often used by leaders, teachers, and educators.

Will and its main features

The main volitional property is the ability not only to correctly set goals, but also to achieve them. In short, if you are a purposeful person who is used to achieving your goals, then you are endowed with well-developed strong-willed qualities.
The second sign of the manifestation of strong-willed qualities is determination. If a person has developed this quality, then he is able to quickly, but at the same time thoughtfully approach the choice of his goals, not forgetting about the methods of their implementation.
Perseverance is the right motivation, which can not only help you achieve your goal, but also significantly strengthen your will. In psychology, persistent people are positioned as those who are able to soberly assess current situations, finding in it what will help achieve their desired goals.
Excerpt. Thanks to this characteristic, a person inhibits all functions to one degree or another, sometimes bringing everything to nothing.
Self-discipline and independence. If a person in his life is able to set a goal for himself without any help and move towards a decision, then he has well-developed volitional qualities.

Theories, forms and levels

Volitional actions have a complex structure and consist of several points:

Acceptance of the goal, awareness of the possibilities for achieving it. A person thinks about whether he needs to spend time on what he has planned or whether it is better to use his energy on other things.
Assessing one’s own capabilities and resources to achieve the required result.
The final choice of method to achieve the plan. This is the most difficult stage at which the volitional qualities of an individual are most manifested.
Decision-making.

The last stage is the implementation of the plan.

Types and characteristics of will

Modern psychology divides this phenomenon into the three most common types in the human psyche:

Free or spiritual will. This character trait is more developed in deeply religious people. Why not cite the lifestyle of monks as an example. They independently made a serious decision, leaving all material values outside their lives.
Natural volitional quality plays the role of a lever, which allows you to make choices, think, adhere to your views and principles, and also controls behavior.
And the final type is forced volitional qualities that arose as a result of the imposition of thoughts, beliefs, and decisions. In this case, you are forced to adhere to the established plan as a result of the current circumstances in your life.

Development of will in human character

This distinctive human character trait sets us apart from the behavior of other living beings on the planet. It is generally accepted that this is a conscious quality that was formed as a result of the formation of society and social labor. The will closely interacts with the cognitive and emotional processes that take place in the human psyche.

She can perform only two functions:

brake;
incentive.

The functioning of the first quality manifests itself in the form of restraining those actions that contradict your prejudices, characteristics, moral standards, etc. As for the second quality, it encourages us to take active action and realize our goals. Thanks to the combination of these two interacting functions, each person has the opportunity to develop strong-willed qualities and overcome life’s difficulties that stand in the way of their own realization and happiness.
It is worth noting that if the quality of life conditions, starting from birth, were unfavorable, then the likelihood that the child will have well-developed volitional qualities is small. But believe and know that courage, perseverance, determination and discipline can always be developed through hard work on yourself. To do this, it is necessary to devote time to various activities, suppressing external and internal obstacles.

List of factors that contribute to inhibition of the development of volitional qualities in children:

spoiled;
tough parents who believe that suppressing the child's decisions will benefit him.

Characteristics of the will

Close relationship with the concept and motive “must”;
Formation of a clear intellectual plan that allows you to move towards the implementation of your plans;
Conscious mediation;
Interaction with other mental processes, for example: emotions, attention, thinking, memory, etc.

Science and clinical practice

Physiological foundations of will

F. N. Gonobolin. “Psychology” Publishing house “Prosveshchenie”, M., 1973 OCR Biografia.Ru Given with minor abbreviations

The initial reason for any action, according to I.M. Sechenov, always lies in external sensory stimulation. This is the determinism of activity, according to which any human action has its own cause. Sechenov talks about the original reason. But later, based on life experience, many actions are performed without direct sensory stimulation or even in spite of it.

Thus, an external stimulus, such as television, prompts a person to watch an interesting program, and he sits down to work, guided by the thought of duty or the unpleasant consequences that will happen if the work is not completed. The physiological basis of volitional action is those second-signal systems of nerve connections that were formed in the cerebral cortex earlier, as a result of past experience. These systems were actualized (excited) by the time of the volitional action, which made it possible to make some efforts, and the person forced himself to work and not watch a television program, although a very interesting one. In volitional action, a special role belongs to the word as an irritant. A word can be a signal acting on a person from the outside (for example, an instruction from a teacher), but it is often also an internal demand on oneself, a self-order. It is not for nothing that I.P. Pavlov said that words are not only audible and visible (when reading), but also pronounced in the mind, alone with oneself. In all cases, they are real stimuli for a voluntary response. And if there is a stable source of excitement, a person achieves his goal. The brain cells that control our movements are always connected to other cells in the cerebral cortex. How can we explain that one person has sufficient willpower and knows how to force himself to do what needs to be done, while another cannot do this and is weak-willed? The physiological explanation may be the following: some people have developed more stable systems of connections in the cerebral cortex, while others have less stable ones. As already mentioned, any control is impossible without control and correction (amendments). A person is able to control and actually controls his movements and actions due to the fact that brain cells, on the one hand, send impulses to the muscles of the body, and on the other hand, receive feedback signals from the movement organs about the completed action. This information is processed in the cerebral cortex, and from there signals again come about the adjustments that need to be made to the movement. This feedback nervous connection allows a person to control his actions, to consciously and voluntarily control them, that is, to perform volitional activity. Inhibitory processes in the cerebral cortex delay unnecessary involuntary movements. These processes suppress excessive excitement (for example, in a state of passion) and contribute to the emergence of restraint, self-control, endurance, sequence of actions, etc. In general, there is a direct dependence of the will on the ability of the cerebral cortex to regulate the work of the subcortex. The latter is the source of many excitatory processes in the human body (instincts, drives, affects, etc.).

The direct motivators for volitional action include a person’s needs, his motives and goals, drives, desires, etc. Need as a need for something is the initial motivation for activity. Based on the need, a motive arises, i.e., an incentive to action. And what a person strives for will be the goal of his actions. If the goal to which a person strives and the motives that motivate him to this are clear, then such a desire is called desire. Unconscious aspirations are called drives. Attraction, to a lesser extent than desire, receives volitional support from a person, and therefore the goal of attraction is less likely to receive real implementation. Feelings are an important motivator for volitional actions. They force you to overcome difficulties and persistently achieve your goals. In the socio-historical development of mankind, labor was of great importance for the formation of volitional qualities. It is in the process of labor that people have cultivated and continue to cultivate their will, without which any work is unthinkable. It is important that human labor from the very beginning was collective. Being a member of a collective, a person fought for life and earned a living together with other people. Collective labor imposed on him certain social (public) responsibilities. And this led to the development of a person’s sense of duty. It is what motivates us to overcome external and internal obstacles in order to fulfill our responsibilities. In a healthy, well-organized team, fulfilling public duty becomes a natural, socially conditioned human need. A. S. Makarenko said that in our country, need is the sister of duty. An important motivator of volitional behavior is a person’s tired views and worldview. Communist beliefs, a sense of patriotism, and the desire to fight for the happiness of mankind encourage Soviet people to perform volitional acts. A striking example of a communist orientation that helps to overcome enormous difficulties is the life of the writer Nikolai Ostrovsky. From a young age, he fell in love with the working people and devoted all his strength to the struggle for the victory of the revolution. Having received serious injuries, Ostrovsky continued to work in difficult conditions. Even after going blind and losing the ability to move, he decided, overcoming suffering, to become useful to his homeland. Only now, instead of a rifle, he picked up a pen and began to fight for the victory of socialism. An example of the courage of a strong-willed person is the life of Ernst Shchatalov, who as a teenager began to lose the ability to move. At the age of 25, he was already bedridden, like N. Ostrovsky. But he found the strength to become a useful member of our society. “The life of Ernst Shatalov,” writes B. Polevoy, “is short, complex, heroic. Yes, exactly heroic, although Shatalov did not cover the embrasure of the pillbox with his chest, did not lay the foundation of the first house of the future city somewhere in a distant diamond land and did not pave new paths for humanity in outer space... But it is not without reason that it is said: in life there is always a place for heroism. And Ernst Shatalov accomplished his feat, a moral feat, a feat of high human spirit, which was his entire tragic life... The story of the life and death of the young Soviet citizen Shatalov awakens not only sympathy, but also pride in a man of unbending will. Although fate... deprived Ernst of all the joys of youth... he continues to live actively and fully, studies, works, is aware of the social and political life of the country, remains a useful member of society... He lives an active, intellectual life. He constantly and intently thinks about the problems that concern humanity. Take, for example, his reasoning about the high purpose of a teacher... He leaves this life not as a sufferer mourning his bitter fate, but as a strong man, full of plans and unfulfilled plans...”

Analysis of the act of will

Volitional processes can be simple or complex. The first include those in which a person without hesitation goes towards the intended goal, it is clear to him what and in what way he will achieve. But you often have to hesitate in choosing the goal of action, given various, sometimes contradictory motives, or experience difficulties in deciding how to act. In these cases, volitional action becomes complex and consists of two stages: 1) preparatory and 2) executive. The preparatory stage includes intention, awareness of the goal, sometimes a struggle of motives, decision-making, choice of methods by which the work will be carried out. So, if a young man has the intention of entering a university, he determines the goal for which he wants to get a higher education, decides on what educational institution he should enter, what faculty, etc., thinks about how he will prepare for college: independently or enroll in university preparation courses. When thinking about all these questions, he may experience a so-called struggle of motives: some of them encourage a person to enroll in the full-time department, others - in the evening department, etc. Finally, the choice is made. The preparatory stage of action ends with the decision. But it will not yet be volitional if it is not followed by the second stage, which consists in executing the decision. In this example, this fulfillment consists of passing the entrance exams and entering the intended university. The struggle of motives in an act of will can occur not only when choosing the goal of action or methods of work, but also in the very process of achieving this goal, when other desires arise that interfere with the intended action. Then there is often a struggle between the sense of duty and other motives. The human will lies in the ability to overcome desires that interfere with the achievement of a goal, and persistently, persistently achieve its implementation.

By performing volitional acts, a person in the process of activity develops volitional qualities that characterize him as a person and are of great importance for life and work. Some properties make a person more active, which is associated with the predominance of excitation processes in the cerebral cortex, while other qualities manifest themselves in inhibition, delay, and suppression of unwanted mental processes and actions. Qualities associated with activity include determination, courage, perseverance, and independence. Decisiveness is the ability to make timely and firm decisions without unnecessary hesitation. Decisiveness is manifested not in reckless, ill-considered actions taken hastily, but in fairly balanced, well-founded actions. A determined person is deeply convinced that it is necessary to do this and not otherwise. The ability to show determination (with pedagogical tact) is an important quality of a teacher. A. S. Makarenko says that it is enough to express a decisive, unbreakable, unbending demand that the children give in and do as needed. Courage is a person’s ability to overcome feelings of fear and confusion. Courage is manifested not only in actions at a time of danger to a person’s life; a brave person will not be afraid of difficult work, great responsibility, or will not be afraid of failure. Courage requires a reasonable, healthy attitude to reality. Sometimes a person’s imagination imagines a danger that in reality does not exist. But through an effort of will, he suppresses unreasonable fears and does what he considers necessary. Courage cannot be confused with recklessness, when a person wants to show his prowess without necessarily exposing himself to danger. Such people cannot be considered strong-willed. True courage of a strong-willed person is overcoming fear and taking into account threatening dangers. Such a person knows his capabilities and thinks through his actions sufficiently. No wonder A.V. Suvorov said: “Courage and caution ride on the same horse.” A brave person usually also has courage, that is, presence of mind in times of danger, the ability to steadfastly endure the difficulties and adversities that come his way. Persistence is a quality that lies in the ability to achieve your goals, no matter how long and difficult the path to achieving them may be. Perseverance is manifested in overcoming external and internal obstacles. A strong-willed person is capable of unrelenting effort, and difficulties, as I. P. Pavlov said, only increase his desire to continue his work. Persistence is also very necessary in teaching work. Perseverance should not be equated with stubbornness, when a person is unable to abandon a wrong decision out of a sense of petty pride. Stubbornness is a negative personality trait. Independence is a person’s ability to make a decision and carry out an intended action without being influenced by others. People who are not distinguished by this strong-willed quality are usually lost when a difficulty comes their way. The reason for such helplessness is often explained by the peculiarities of upbringing even at school age, when the child was not taught to work independently and he developed a desire to avoid responsibility for his actions and deeds. Independence does not exclude the fact that a person willingly listens to the reasonable opinions of other people and accepts their advice if he agrees with them. But a strong-willed person does not have suggestibility, this negative quality, in the presence of which people too easily give up their opinions, completely submitting to others. True independence has nothing in common with so-called negativism, that is, the desire to resist outside influence at all costs. If suggestibility prompts a person to commit actions that do not correspond to his intentions and beliefs, then negativism pushes him to unreasonable actions in defiance of others. Suggestibility and negativism are signs not of willpower, but of its weakness. Acting independently does not mean not subordinating your actions to the opinion and will of the collective. But one must not succumb to the so-called “herd feeling”, when a person sacrifices his convictions for the sake of unreasonable fashion or the harmful influence of his comrades. Here, too, a lack of will is reflected, since a person, caring about what others will think and say about him, abandons his point of view, although he considers it correct. Many bad habits (drinking, smoking, etc.) are acquired by weak-willed people who are prone to suggestion and imitation, precisely because of a lack of independence. Performing actions independently helps develop self-confidence, which is an important strong-willed trait of a person. 2. The qualities of will associated with inhibition of unwanted mental processes and actions include restraint (self-control), endurance, patience, discipline and organization. Self-control, or self-control, is a person’s ability to control himself. While maintaining complete control over his behavior, he overcomes unwanted impulses, impulsive actions, affects (for example, anger, fear). Having self-control makes a person self-critical and helps to refrain from unreasonable actions. Self-control and self-control are very important for a teacher. The behavior of children and their lack of understanding of educational material often irritate the teacher, and great restraint is required to act as the current situation requires. Self-control helps the teacher refrain from outbursts of anger, suppress embarrassment, confusion, overcome timidity, stiffness and other mental states that arise in some people when working with a team. Close to self-control are such volitional qualities as endurance and patience, in which a person is able to endure hardships and suffering (from illness, hunger, cold, from extremely difficult working conditions). Despite the difficulties, a strong-willed person continues to achieve his goal. Of course, it is impossible to strictly divide all the volitional qualities of a person into two groups depending on the predominance of processes of excitation or inhibition. Sometimes, while suppressing some actions, a person becomes active in others. This distinguishes such qualities of will as discipline and organization. Discipline lies primarily in subordination to the demands of the team. An organized person knows how to force himself, and, if necessary, others to work productively. Carelessness, imprecision (for example, being late for work), careless, negligent attitude towards duties - all this is a manifestation of indiscipline and disorganization, which indicate a lack of willpower. An undisciplined person cannot successfully manage the work of others. K. D. Ushinsky wrote that only the will acts on the will and that only a disciplined person can maintain discipline. To successfully maintain order in a school, the teacher himself must be a model of discipline. It is not for nothing that the honored school teacher of the RSFSR E.V. Martyanova said: “A teacher who enters the classroom two minutes later than expected (without a good reason) cannot be a teacher.” Fit, precision, neatness are manifested in everything, they are noticeable in everyday behavior and even, it would seem, in small things. A young man once approached the famous Soviet pilot M. Gromov with a request for advice on how to enter a flight school. Gromov appointed him a time for a conversation. The young man was late, citing the fact that he forgot to wind his watch. Gromov recalled the consequences of forgetfulness in flying. When the pilot suggested that the young man write down the address of the institution, he looked for a pencil for a long time, but never found it. With the owner’s pencil, he made an illegible note in which the number 7 looked like 4. “Tomorrow you may not find the institution where you need to go,” Gromov noted. “You carelessly wrote down the house number.” - "Yes you are right. It's probably because I'm a little excited." Gromov said that the pilot must be attentive and accurate even during excitement. “When the door closed behind him,” Gromov said, “I couldn’t help but think how unprepared he was for life and especially for his chosen profession...”

Every person needs to work on developing will. A. M. Gorky advised to train the mind and will in the same way as a person trains the body. This was well understood by all outstanding people who, even in their youth, worked hard to strengthen their will. The young man Ushinsky compiled a schedule of classes by day and time. His diary contains a list of books he intended to read. He established rules of behavior for himself and strictly monitored their implementation. Nineteen-year-old L.N. Tolstoy also composed “Rules for the Development of Will.” In them he included a strict daily routine and a certain diet, which he adhered to throughout his life. N.K. Krupskaya attached great importance to self-control. Every evening she briefly wrote down what was done during the day in order to critically evaluate the degree of productivity of her work and understand what remained unfinished. The development of will is helped by the team, the opinions of others, and their positive influence on human behavior. Ordinary, everyday work, including academic work, can also be a good school for strengthening the will. If there are considerable difficulties in work or study, then overcoming them serves as an excellent means of developing strong-willed qualities. Pilot A.P. Maresyev, Hero of the Soviet Union, said this very well when addressing young people: “Sometimes they ask me: tell me how you crawled with frostbitten legs and how you had the perseverance to get behind the wheel of an airplane again... And so did I.” I’m tempted to say in response: wouldn’t it be better if I told you about suffixes? Yes, yes, about suffixes, which I struggled with until I was stupefied. When I started studying at the academy after the war, it turned out that I had completely forgotten some of what I had learned at school. The situation was especially bad with grammar. And I shed a lot of sweat before I defeated her! Of course, these are different things - sitting over a textbook and flying a plane into battle, but sometimes the qualities that are required in order to do these dissimilar things well are very similar.” So, to cultivate the will you need constant, systematic work on yourself, which must begin as early as possible. We must remember that the volitional qualities of a person are formed in volitional activity. Therefore, work has always been and will be the best means of strengthening the will. It is very important to bring every task to the end, to think through your actions, not to make impossible decisions, but, having made a decision, to achieve its implementation at all costs. The education of will also depends on the goal that a person sets for himself. Awareness of your goal will help strengthen your will. It is also necessary to cultivate the habit of strictly monitoring yourself, controlling your work and behavior. You need to train Kolya, first of all, by overcoming your shortcomings (laziness, carelessness, bad habits, etc.). Every success in this regard instills in a person self-confidence and makes him more strong-willed. This is facilitated by a correct lifestyle, daily routine, general strengthening of the nervous system, physical and mental hardening, which consists of constantly exercising one’s willpower.

Will in the structure of character and its education

Self-education and the development of one’s own volitional qualities is an integral part of the self-improvement of each individual, based on which it is necessary to develop rules and programs for the development of self-education of “willpower”.

If willpower is considered as spontaneous control, then it must include self-stimulation, self-determination, self-control and self-initiation. Let's look at each concept in more detail.

Self-determination (motivation)

Determination or, as we used to say, motivation is the conditioning of human behavior, which was prompted by certain factors or reasons. In the voluntary behavior of a person, the reason for the action and deed lies in the person himself. It is he who is responsible for the body’s reaction to the stimulus. However, decision making is a more complex process that involves more ongoing phenomena.
Motivation is the process of forming the intention to act or not act. The formed foundation of one’s action is called a motive. Quite often, in order to try to understand the reason for another person’s actions, we ask ourselves what motive prompted the person to commit this act.

Summarizing all of the above, I would like to note that in one person all the components of volitional qualities are manifested heterogeneously: some are better, others are worse. This indicates that the will is heterogeneous and depends on various life situations. Consequently, we can assume that there is no unique willpower for all cases; otherwise, it would be manifested by one person either extremely successfully or consistently poorly.

But this does not mean that there is no point in engaging in self-improvement and cultivating your willpower. It should be assumed that you may encounter significant difficulties along the way, so it is necessary to acquire patience, wisdom, tact and human sensitivity. academic bachelor's degree, read this on our website

Development methods

Strong-willed qualities can and should be developed. This can be done in several ways:

Do exercises every day, force yourself to exercise. This method helps develop fundamental good habits.
Do important things as early as possible, do not leave them for tomorrow.
Create a clear schedule. Set aside time for active activities, rest, eating, and self-development.
Don't stop when difficulties arise.

To make doing things enjoyable, you need to set motivation for yourself in advance and reward yourself at the end of the journey.

Will in psychology is a force that helps to achieve a goal with any effort, regardless of the difficulties and obstacles encountered along the way. Volitional qualities develop in different ways. One person can keep himself from bad habits, but another cannot. If desired, volitional qualities can be developed to the required level. For this, different techniques are used.

Functions and processes

A person with a strong will has a highly developed method of regulating his psyche. Will is important in relation to emotional status, the ability to concentrate attention and motivate oneself to action. The three key functions of will processes are oppressive, stabilizing, and initiating. Initiation is also called inducement. This function has a close connection with motivation factors and is aimed at initiating action. It determines behavioral characteristics and allows a person to be active. Due to the initiating volitional function, barriers (objective, internal) are overcome.

As a stabilizer, will is associated with efforts due to which activity is maintained at a sufficient level, despite interference from outside and within the person.

Inhibitory is the final most important function, which determines the role of will in human life. It is aimed at slowing down other desires, behavioral scenarios and patterns that contradict a specific goal. The oppressive volitional function determines a person’s ability to refuse some action, because of which the most significant value may be in a disadvantageous position. Inhibition is one of the key and most important aspects of regulating human behavioral patterns.

Psychic phenomenon

Experts in the field of philosophy and psychology, trying to determine what human will is, proposed calling it a unique phenomenon of a person regulating his own activities. In many respects, it is precisely due to this aspect that a vector orientation of consciousness and its states towards an indefinite goal is possible. Will allows you to concentrate your efforts in order to achieve what you want. A characteristic feature of will is the impossibility of reducing a phenomenon to a specific objective aspect. It cannot be called pure extra-practical consciousness. Will represents the connection between an action, an object, an object, an impulse, a need.

The study of the will and human activity allows us to say with confidence that this mental function presupposes objectification by the subject and legitimation of desire, its selection into a goal. To some extent, will is the result of reflective reasoning about a person’s needs, and at the same time it is a predictive analysis of what may result from an action. Will is a combination of desire and a sense of obligation, combined with the concentration of efforts that must be made to implement what is formulated. Will at the same time is the ability of a person to realize the dominant goal, distinguish it from all others and abandon alternatives that impede the achievement of the goal. The core of the act of will is awareness of the value of the goal and the significance of its implementation for the person. Psychologists point out that will is always associated with a person’s ability to assess the correspondence between the formulated goal and the internal scale of values.

Create and develop

In psychology, human will is the quality thanks to which a creative person organizes life, despite the problems of the surrounding world. A person who has this mental characteristic in a pronounced form is able to deal with difficulties and overcome them. Some call will the ability to exist despite the need to fight, while others say that tension itself can already be called will. If he is not in life, it is wrong to call a person strong-willed. To develop this quality, it is necessary to show wisdom and strive for civility. A strong-willed person is one who can and is ready to cooperate and through this make his life more effective. By organizing a life situation, taking into account prospects and one’s own accumulated wealth, a strong-willed person achieves success. To some extent, it is the mental function in question that provides the possibility of development and is the way in which it occurs. It is formed and improved, and manifests itself most clearly in conditions of negative motivation, that is, a situation when a person clearly understands what kind of person she does not want to be, and is ready to make every effort to avoid becoming such a person.

The character and will of a person are the mental characteristics of an individual, improving and developing over the years. Psychologists specializing in these issues call for developing the will, making efforts to do so within reason. By overloading oneself, a person will not receive any positive outcome. Volitional loads must be combined with positive motives, taking into account that will to some extent is a force, but it reflects not muscle mass and its fitness, but character traits. To properly manage your resources, you need to be wise, be able to correctly analyze what is happening, and make rational efforts. Will allows a person to move towards an elusive goal, but it can also be a tool through which the creative search for an alternative path becomes more effective and simpler.