Volitional actions include all actions that are performed not out of internal motivation, but out of necessity. Strong-willed actions are those associated with overcoming difficulties encountered along the path of life. A number of human qualities can be defined as strong-willed (focus, perseverance, endurance, patience, etc.).
In scientific psychology, will is considered among the stimulants of behavior, often identifying it with the desires of the subject. The internal relationship of the will with the needs, motives, and goals of a person is emphasized. S. L. Rubinstein believed that the rudiments of will are already contained in needs as the initial motivations of a person to act. Volitional regulation is connected with the motivation of human behavior, but this connection is not a given, but a given, and it requires its own explanation.
To understand the psychology of will and its mechanisms, it is fundamentally important to highlight the stage at which the direct initiation of activity occurs and its maintenance during implementation - the process of forming a situational impulse. The impulse is the initiating beginning of a specific activity unfolding at a given moment and in a given situation. The emergence of motivation is associated with the consistent formation of individual moments of motivation: attitudinal readiness for activity, its direction, choice of means and methods of action, creating confidence in success and correctness of action.
That is why actualized need and motive are not enough to initiate behavior. For behavior to begin and end successfully, many external and internal factors must be present. All of them clearly declare themselves precisely at the stage of forming the impulse to action.
If the subject has a need and a motive for an activity, an “interest” in its implementation, motivation unfolds in the sequence described above: from the actually experienced motive - to the goal, to the choice of means and methods of action, to the construction of an action plan and, finally, to the implementation of the activity. solving vital problems. In psychology, such behavior is called voluntary; we call it subjective, i.e. specially organized and managed. Voluntary behavior carried out for a strong, stable motive does not require volitional regulation.
The structure of voluntary (subjective) behavior can be depicted as follows:
Motivation (motive);
Goal setting (goal);
Planning (plan);
Implementation of actions (result);
Reflection.
The mechanisms of volitional actions are different. Their understanding is associated with the analysis of the processes of motivation to action in situations where the subject has no interest, when he must obey external requirements emanating from the activity itself or the conditions for its implementation. In other words, volitional mechanisms unfold where the subject acts out of necessity (“should”), and not out of direct desire.
Volitional regulation is not needed where there is an actual experienced need that provides an incentive to action, where the action has a certain positive meaning for a person. The need for volitional regulation arises when there is a lack of motivation for action, which nevertheless must be carried out.
The main mechanism of volitional behavior is “a change or creation of additional meaning of an action, when an action is performed not only for the sake of the motive for which the action was taken for implementation, but also for the sake of a person’s personal values or other motives involved in a given action.” Volitional regulation in its developed forms is the connection of a directly unimportant, but obligatory action to the semantic sphere of the individual, the transformation of a given action into a personal one, the connection of the required behavior with moral motives and values. This explains the fact, recorded in psychology, of the relationship between the motivational and semantic sphere of a person and his volitional behavior. The more morally educated a person is, the easier it is for him to carry out volitional action.
Changing the meaning of an action can be achieved:
- - firstly, through a revaluation of the significance of the motive, while devaluing the object of need;
- - secondly, through a change in the role and position of a person in the community;
- - thirdly, through anticipation and emotional experience of the results of one’s actions;
- - fourthly, through resorting to symbols and rituals to strengthen action;
- - fifthly, through the connection of a given action with other, higher motives (duty, honor, responsibility, etc.);
- - sixthly, through imagining a situation with a new motive (for example, imagining that a given action is performed under competition conditions) and a number of other methods.
In other words, a complex volitional action is characterized by the following stages:
- 1) awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it;
- 2) awareness of a number of possibilities for achieving the goal;
- 3) the emergence of motives that affirm or reflect these possibilities; mental volitional regulation
- 4) struggle of motives and choice;
- 5) accepting one of the possibilities as a solution;
- 6) implementation of the decision made;
- 7) overcoming external obstacles, objective difficulties of the matter itself, all kinds of obstacles until the decision made and the goal set are achieved and realized.
When explaining, predicting and controlling the actions of an employee, special significance is assigned to his will. It often happens that when an employee makes a decision and understands the need to act, he is in no hurry to implement it. For example, having received a task and realizing that he needs to start working, he does not immediately begin it and spends at least a few minutes in the smoking room. Psychologists have long tried to explain why people sometimes do nothing to implement their plans, decisions, and sometimes even satisfy their deeply felt interests.
When workers of equal knowledge and skill, holding similar beliefs and outlooks on life, approach the task before them with varying degrees of determination and intensity, or when, when faced with difficulties, some of them stop acting and others act with renewed energy, these phenomena are associated with manifestations of 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.
The task of the will is to control human behavior, consciously regulate activity, especially in cases where obstacles to normal life activities arise. This regulation is based on the interaction of excitation and inhibition processes nervous system. In accordance with this, in the above task two main actions can be distinguished - activation and inhibition. The first is sometimes also called “incentive” or “stimulating”.
Will is one of the main indicators of an individual’s competitiveness, without which no career can take place. Research has confirmed that it has psychological, managerial, legal, sociological, physiological foundations, i.e. will can be analyzed using integrative-technological and subject-activity approaches. This makes it possible to consider will from two sides: as a problem of self-determination (motivational, “free choice” approaches) and as a problem of self-regulation (regulatory approach) of the subject of activity. A specific feature of volitional behavior is that a person internally experiences a state "I should" and not "I Want". Of course, there are cases of coincidence of volitional and impulsive behavior: “I want to do my duty.” Therefore, figuratively speaking, human life represents a constant struggle between volitional and habitual, everyday behavior. In contrast to involuntary, volitional conscious actions, which are more characteristic of human behavior, are always aimed at achieving a set goal (Fig. 12).
Rice. 12.
Exactly conscious purposefulness of action characterizes volitional behavior. However, since not every goal can be achieved immediately, achieving it will require going through a number of stages. Thus, volitional actions can be quite complex, consisting of many simpler ones, and can include as separate links such movements that have become automated and have lost their initially conscious character.
Some volitional actions are so complex character which can only be completed within for a long time. Thus, climbers who decide to conquer a mountain peak begin their preparation long before the ascent. This includes training, inspection of equipment, adjustment of fastenings, choice of route, etc. But the main difficulties await them ahead when they begin their ascent. Often the way back is no less difficult. Another important sign of volitional behavior is that it manifests itself when overcoming obstacles, internal or external. Internal, subjective, obstacles are caused by the behavior of a person performing volitional actions and can be caused by fatigue, the desire to have fun, fear, shame, false pride, inertia, simply laziness, etc. (Fig. 13).
Rice. 13.
An example of external obstacles can be various obstacles that are regarded as barriers standing in the way of achieving the goal. However, not any action aimed at overcoming an obstacle is called volitional. Thus, a teenager running away from a dog can overcome very difficult terrain and even climb a tall tree, but no one will call his actions strong-willed.
The most important role in overcoming difficulties on the way to achieving a goal is played by awareness of its significance, and at the same time awareness of one’s duty as an individual. The more significant a goal is for a person, the more obstacles and hardships he is ready to overcome. In some cases, achieving a goal turns out to be more expensive than life, and then volitional actions can even lead to the death of a person in the workplace.
The variety of all situations requiring urgent and volitional regulation (overcoming obstacles, focusing action on the future, conflict of motives, conflict between the requirement to obey social norms and a person’s desire, etc.) can be reduced to the following realities, which are based on the need :
- - replenishing the lack of motivation to act in the absence of sufficient motivation;
- - choice of motives, goals, types of action in case of their conflict;
- - suppression of interfering impulses that are caused by involuntarily provoked needs;
- - voluntary regulation of external and internal actions and mental processes.
Volitional actions vary in their complexity. In the case when the employee clearly sees his goal, immediately, directly proceeds to action and does not need to go beyond the current situation, they speak of a simple act of will. Complex volitional action presupposes that additional links are wedged between motivation and direct action. Obtaining an education can be considered a complex volitional action: after all, before receiving a diploma, it is necessary to go to a university every day for five to six years, prepare for classes, write essays and tests, and pass exams. The main moments or phases of a complex volitional process are: the emergence of motivation; modeling situations; struggle of motives; goal setting; decision making; execution.
At the first stage of development of complex volitional action in humans there is an urge which leads to his understanding of what he wants, to an awareness of the goal. Of course, not every impulse is conscious, such as the fairy-tale task: “Go there, I don’t know where, bring that, I don’t know what.” Depending on how conscious a particular need is, the cause of the impulse may be attraction or desire. If only dissatisfaction with the current situation is realized and at the same time the need itself is not recognized clearly enough, i.e. a person does not imagine the way and means to achieve a goal, then the motive of activity is attraction. Attraction usually vaguely, unclear: a person understands that he is missing something or that he needs something, but he does not know what exactly. Usually people experience attraction as a specific painful state in the form of boredom, melancholy, and uncertainty. In such cases they say: “He himself does not know what he needs.”
Attraction is the most primitive biological form of personality activation, since in this case the need is unconscious. Attraction is fickle and changeable. For a need to be translated into action, a person must somehow feel and recognize it. It's not always that simple. Sometimes the most pressing need remains “unrecognized”, although easily achievable if desired.
Because of its uncertainty, attraction cannot develop into activity. A person does not understand what he needs and how to achieve it. Therefore, attraction is a transitory phenomenon, and the need represented in it either fades away or is realized, turning into a specific desire, intention, dream, etc.
However, wishing does not mean acting. Reflecting the content of the need, desire does not contain an active element. Wish- it is rather the knowledge of what motivates action. Before a desire turns into a direct motive for behavior, and then into a goal, it is assessed by a person who weighs and compares all the conditions that help and hinder its implementation. Desire, as a motive for activity, is characterized by a clear awareness of the reasons that gave rise to it. Having a high motivating force, desire sharpens awareness of the goal of a future action and forces one to make plans to achieve it. At the same time, possible ways and means of achieving the goal are also realized. Strong desires develop into constant attraction to an object, i.e. become an aspiration. This is another conscious component of motivation.
Pursuit is closely related to the volitional component. It manifests itself in the fact that a person is able to overcome all obstacles, difficulties, and adversities on the way to the object of need. Aspiration is inseparable from feelings that signal whether a goal has been achieved, causing a person to feel pleasure or displeasure. Thus, the desire inherent in the organism (which has the meaning of a motive that prompts the organism to act) turns out to be inextricably linked with the feelings experienced.
However, not all aspirations and desires are immediately realized. A person may have several uncoordinated and even contradictory desires at the same time, and he will find himself in a difficult situation, not knowing which one to realize first. As a result, each desire seems to strive to subjugate all the others, to take first place among all human needs. This condition is called struggle of motives. The struggle of motives is a broad mental discussion by a person of those reasons that speak about all the pros and cons of actions in one direction or another; their internal discussion of exactly how to act. A person tries to explain to himself which desire should be realized first. The struggle of motives is often accompanied by significant internal tension and represents the experience of a deep internal conflict between the arguments of reason and feelings, personal motives and social interests, between “I want” and “should”, etc.
In traditional psychology, the struggle of motives and the subsequent decision that a person makes was considered as the main link, the core of the volitional act. At the same time, both the internal struggle and the conflict that a person seems to experience with his own, divided soul, and the way out of it in the form of an internal decision, were opposed to fulfillment. Thus, the activity itself, the achievement of the goal itself, acted as a secondary component of the volitional act. To be fair, we also note the opposite trend, when scientists strive to completely exclude from volitional action the internal work of consciousness associated with choice, deliberation and evaluation. Separating motivation from the volitional act itself, they turn it into pure impulsiveness and deprive it of conscious control.
There is an internal and external “struggle of motives”. Internal the struggle of motives includes deliberation of actions, discussion of the upcoming action, although sometimes after choosing actions people act as they must, and is an internal struggle, or a personality conflict: a person thinks hard when it is difficult to make a decision, comparing different motives, he fights with himself. External the struggle of motives can manifest itself in labor, scientific and other teams when they collide various points vision, scientific interests, etc.
When there is a “struggle of motives,” an employee can choose different ways to solve his problems: to act or not to act, to lie or not, which corresponds to the internal motivational conflict resolved within the framework of the dilemma: pursuit - avoidance. When a choice is made, there is a desire to justify one’s choice (a state of cognitive dissonance): highlighting the positive in the chosen way of satisfying the need and the negative in the rejected one.
In reality, the struggle of motives as a link constituting an act of will cannot be discarded, just as it cannot be considered the most important. A truly volitional action is an independent, selective act, including conscious choice and decision. Delaying action in order to think about and discuss the consequences of a decision is as essential to the act of will as the motivation for it. Here the volitional process includes the intellectual, thinking process. Mental situation modeling discovers that a desire generated by one need or a certain interest can only be realized at the expense of another desire. Moreover, sometimes a desirable action itself can lead to undesirable consequences.
W. James, describing the complexities of the decision-making process, noted that delays in action due to indecision can last weeks, even months: “Motives for action, which only yesterday seemed so bright and convincing, today already seem pale, devoid of liveliness. But neither today nor tomorrow the action is performed by us. Something tells us that all this is not decisive. This oscillation between two possible future alternatives resembles the oscillation of a pendulum... Until the dam is broken and a decision is made.”
Decision making is the final moment of the struggle of motives: a person decides to act in a certain direction, giving preference to some goals and motives and rejecting others. Here he often says to himself: “I’ll do this, and then come what may.” When making a decision, a person feels that the further course of events depends on him, and this gives rise to a sense of responsibility specific to an act of will. Considering the decision-making process, W. James identified several types of determination.
- 1. Intelligent Determination It manifests itself when opposing motives begin to gradually fade away, leaving room for one solution, one alternative, which is perceived calmly, without any effort. The transition from doubt to confidence is experienced completely passively, without emotion, and it seems to the person that reasonable grounds for action follow naturally from the essence of the matter. This is what fashion mechanisms are based on.
- 2. In cases where hesitation and indecision have gone on for too long, a moment may come when a person is more willing to make a bad decision than not to make any. At the same time, there is often some accidental circumstance upsets the balance by giving one prospect an advantage over others, and the person deliberately submits to fate. Thus, an employee who does not accurately understand what management wants from him chooses the solution that seemed to him the most correct of all known, although this may not correspond to reality.
- 3. In some cases, in the absence of real solutions to exit difficult situation, wanting to avoid the unpleasant feeling of indecision, a person begins to act automatically, just striving to move forward. What happens next does not concern him at the moment. This type of determination is characteristic of individuals with a vigorous desire for activity and a strong emotional temperament. It was about such a person that witnesses spoke about an incident when in winter one of the cars fell into a river ravine, and the driver tried to turn the flow back by throwing stones into the water and digging a new stream bed. Although in this situation it would be more effective to leave the car for a while and try to find a tractor or some other means that would pull the car out of the water.
- 4. It is also possible to stop internal vibrations change in the intrinsic value of the incentive. This type of determination includes all cases of moral regeneration, awakening of conscience, etc. A person experiences an internal turning point and immediately becomes determined to act in a certain direction. Such degenerations are described in sufficient detail in the literature. Just remember the painful thoughts of Andrei Bolkonsky from War and Peace.
- 5. Sometimes, without rational grounds, a person considers a completely specific course of action more preferable. With the help of his will he strengthens the motive, which by itself could not subjugate the others. Unlike the first case, the functions of the mind here are performed by the will.
Thus, it becomes clear that the decision-making process is quite complex, and the internal tension accompanying it can gradually increase. As a result, an employee can walk around all day long, immersed in himself, thinking about how best to act, which path to choose. During the struggle of motives the goal is formalized activity, its main specificity is comprehended. After a decision is made, he experiences a certain relief. This is due to the fact that our thinking switches to something else - now it thinks about how to accomplish what is planned, the struggle of motives stops and, accordingly, the internal tension caused by this struggle begins to decrease.
After making a decision it is necessary choose funds for its implementation. However, as you know, goals can be achieved in different ways. It is unlikely that we should adhere to the motto that came to us from the Middle Ages: “The end justifies the means.” There are easy ways, but not entirely honest, and there are difficult ones, but worthy and humane. Therefore, we can say that a person is characterized not only by the goals themselves, but also by the means that he uses to achieve the goal. Let's imagine that someone decided to become a “progress worker.” And here you can look for both easy ways: attribution, causing harm to others, “illness” during unprofitable work, etc., and more difficult ones: read a lot of specialized literature, develop professional skills, consult with mentors, etc. In addition, decision-making can have a dual expression in a person’s life. In some cases it manifests itself in external action (for example, winning a professional skill competition), and in others it consists in abstaining from external action. This manifestation is usually called an internal volitional action (for example, a professional decides that his career is successful even without participating in a competition).
However, making a decision does not mean implementing it. Sometimes the intention cannot be realized, and the work begun is not completed. The essence of volitional action lies, of course, not in the struggle of motives and not in making a decision, but in its execution. Only those who know how to carry out their decisions can be considered a person with a sufficiently strong will. Indeed, no matter how much a person suffers when making the most difficult decision, no matter how correct this decision may be, we will not consider him a person with a strong will until this decision is carried out. And vice versa, those who, even perhaps fulfilling someone else’s decision, often sacrificing themselves, strive for the goal, we call strong-willed people.
Self execution of volitional action also has a complex internal structure. The actual execution of the decision is usually associated with one or another time period. If execution of the decision is postponed for long term, then they talk about intention. Intention- this is the internal preparation of future action and represents the desire to achieve a goal. So, for example, a young specialist may decide (intention) to work from the new year without marriage. However, intention alone is not enough to perform a volitional action. This will require the introduction of strict self-control, discipline, advanced training, etc.
As in any other action, at the execution stage it is also possible to distinguish planning stage ways to achieve the task.
Planning is a complex mental activity. During it, the employee looks for the most rational ways and available means to quickly reach the decision made. The plan can be presented with varying degrees of detail and different details. Some people are characterized by the desire to foresee everything, to plan every step, while others are content with the most general scheme or vague ideas. Usually, a plan for immediate actions is developed in more detail, while the execution of distant actions is outlined more schematically or even vaguely.
A planned action is not automatically implemented: in order for a decision to turn into action, you must force yourself to do it, i.e. make a volitional effort (Fig. 14). Volitional effort is experienced as conscious tension, finding release in volitional action. Currently, volitional effort is understood as a form of emotional stress that helps a person overcome difficulties. The task of volitional effort is to mobilize a person’s internal resources and create additional motives for action, to achieve a goal.
Rice. 14.
Volitional effort is characterized by the amount of energy spent on performing a purposeful action or refraining from unwanted actions. Volitional effort permeates all links of the volitional act (Fig. 15), starting from awareness of the goal and ending with the execution of the decision. At the executive level, when a person overcomes not only internal, but also external difficulties, it becomes more accessible to observation.
Rice. 15.
Volitional effort is qualitatively different from muscular effort. In volitional efforts, movements are often minimal, but internal tension can be enormous and even destructive for the body. Of course, it cannot be said that muscular effort is absolutely absent - a person can tense his facial muscles, clench his fists, etc., but it is qualitatively different from the content of volitional effort. Studies have found that the intensity of volitional effort depends on the following factors:
- 1) the worldview of the individual;
- 2) moral stability of the individual;
- 3) the degree of social significance of the goals set;
- 4) attitudes towards activities;
- 5) the level of self-government and self-organization of the individual.
According to D. Herbert and L. Rosenstiel, the problem of the relationship between will and motive has long been of interest to psychologists. But then he “fell into oblivion” and was not returned to for several decades. This topic was again raised by the works of H. Heckhausen, arousing general interest in it both in labor psychology and in organizational psychology. X. Heckhausen’s model of action “Rubicon” (Fig. 16) is especially famous here.
Rice. 16.
Initiation of action in the “Rubicon model” occurs on the border of the preactional and actional phases of the volitional act. This phase is characterized by goal-oriented action. Actions leading to the goal will be implemented as soon as a suitable opportunity presents itself. Once the action begins, all attention is directed toward achieving the desired result.
Thus, the “Rubicon model” includes the motivational phase of choice at the beginning and evaluation at the end of actions, as well as the volitional phase of goal setting and execution of actions. In the choice phase, a person “weighs” different options for action. At the time when an intention is formed, a person focuses all his attention on one (preferred) alternative. An act of will stimulates a person to “cross the Rubicon,” which no longer implies a return to the old ways. A person, relying on the will, which, for example, “protects” intentional action from external “temptations” and “distracting” thoughts, sets a goal (the process of setting goals). Then again follows the motivational evaluation phase, where the person compares the outcome of the actions with the expected results of alternative actions that he, however, did not choose.
This point of view allows us to distinguish two approaches: procedural and conflict-oriented. The phase model of action, as a rule, assumes a process approach. Before taking action, a person impartially (objectively and openly) “weighs” alternatives to action. And when developing an intention, he analyzes the information biasedly (subjectively). This especially concerns the desirability and feasibility of the chosen goal. In contrast, conflict-focused approaches are based on the assumption that motivation and volition are complementary regulatory processes. In this sense, motivation may already be necessary in the selection phase. And in a situation where the requirements are fully consistent with the competencies and inclinations of the person, this primary motivation may be sufficient to perform actions (for example, with the so-called /Zoiv effect).
American psychologist Ker tried to combine these two approaches - procedural and conflict-oriented. He took into account well-tested phenomena. Namely: in the process of forming intentions and performing actions, conflicts may arise between actions, to overcome which the will is involved. Thus, Ker integrated both approaches and developed his conflict-oriented process model (Table 3).
A detailed analysis of existing and her own empirical studies allowed Ker to show that in reality there are not only motivation for selection and a volitional act of implementation (as suggested by the phase model of actions), but also motivation and a volitional act of selection and implementation. This is of particular importance for organizational psychology, as it confirms that initiating employee actions and developing personnel involves reinforcing motivation and will.
Table 3
Process model of interaction between motivation and will (according to Kehr)
However, just understanding the significance of the action being performed or its compliance with moral principles is not enough to make a person struggle with difficulties. In order for understanding to give rise to a desire that suppresses and subordinates many other desires, it must be supported by acute experiences; internal necessity to do so. This is clearly illustrated by the sense of duty. A sense of duty is an expression of the fact that moral phenomena have been learned, accepted and become the property of the individual. After this, the sense of duty becomes an internal motivation, a person’s internal compass for behavior in any situation where a struggle arises between selfish aspirations and public interests.
A person often, through volitional efforts, has to overcome, weaken and suppress his involuntary actions, fight ingrained habits, and break existing stereotypes.
Corinne Sweet describes habitual actions or addictions as features of involuntary behavior as follows.
- 1. You are not in control This, quicker This controls you. You feel like you have no choice but to do This, take This, do as required This. Once a bad habit forms, you immediately fall under its power.
- 2. This habit becomes so ingrained in your life that it becomes invisible to you. People around perceive This like your defensiveness, irritability, isolation, etc.
- 3. You do This more and more often, trying to cause a stronger impact.
- 4. You start doing it regularly. This, when you anticipate unpleasant sensations such as boredom, loneliness, physical pain, etc.
- 5. You feel like you can no longer cope with your life's problems without help. this.
- 6. You may spend a significant portion of your life fighting this(even if This it hooked you lightly).
- 7. You can waste precious soul energy by suffering from this and unsuccessfully trying to get rid of this.
- 8. On This part of your money, your time, your energy is wasted to the detriment of something more useful, as a result you hate yourself even more for these pointless expenses.
- 9. You lose self-esteem, mental strength, there is a threat of destruction of your entire way of life (family, career, friends), physical and mental health.
Only you yourself can help get rid of this, but only if you yourself are interested in this. If someone else pushes you, then, apart from resistance, conflicts, the desire to take revenge on everyone, you are unlikely to achieve anything. Even if you understand that you are cared for, such care can cause fear of loss of freedom. At the same time, manifestations of involuntary activity often have the opposite direction in relation to the chosen volitional action.
The feeling of effort on oneself is especially acute when it is necessary to implement some rare, ideal motives, when it is necessary to overcome more familiar motives, actions of an impulsive nature.
According to W. James, in these cases it seems to a person that the action is being performed along the line of greatest resistance, although he could direct it along the line of least resistance. Therefore, moral people are often proud of victories over their nature. On the contrary, the one who gives himself over to sensual pleasures or natural inclinations never says that he has conquered his ideal aspirations. Thus, lazy people do not say that they resisted their hard work, alcoholics do not say that they struggled with sobriety, etc. Here it is probably easy to detect the influence of personal orientation and the significance of values, because it is just as difficult for an intelligent person to offend someone as it is for an ignorant person not to do so.
With the help of volitional effort, a person does not destroy his habits or other forms of involuntary activity, but only changes their form or suppresses their external manifestation. Therefore, will is also a person’s power over himself, his aspirations, feelings, passions. Will is a person’s ability to control himself, to consciously regulate his behavior and activities.
Emotional-volitional self-regulation is widely known under the term “self-control”. This level of mental regulation usually includes a complex of human properties, characteristics and capabilities that are realized with the participation of volitional processes. A person’s ability to restrain emotions and control oneself in extreme situations is traditionally considered as a manifestation of will. Self-control can be characterized as a person’s ability to control himself, his actions and deeds, experiences and feelings, the ability to consciously maintain and regulate his well-being and behavior in extreme situations. Self-control regulates the balance of the emotional and volitional components of the psyche with the dominance of the will over emotions, taken regardless of the time factor. In this case, the volitional component includes actions associated with pronounced internal mental efforts when performing them. Internal regulation of mental processes and states characterizes the subject’s ability to modify and restore its structure and functions in accordance with the requirements of the situation.
Self-control indicates a person’s ability to psychologically adapt and assumes that he or she masters the techniques of self-control, self-regulation, and self-influence. Self-control manifests the conscious-volitional organization of all mental processes that regulate activity through latent functions of the psyche, especially in disorganizing situations or extreme conditions. Self-control is not an innate quality and becomes personal as a result of self-organization and self-government, without which there cannot be a psychologically competent organization of life in general, especially professional activities.
Strong-willed qualities usually include energy, endurance, perseverance, patience, courage, and determination. The absence of these qualities is traditionally seen as an indicator of weak will. The formation of volitional qualities presupposes that the individual has developed such properties as self-confidence, adequacy of the level of aspirations and self-esteem. Demonstration of strong-willed qualities does not always indicate competitiveness. For example, perseverance, on the one hand, can be associated with a strong and stable motive, with self-confidence, on the other hand, it can be demonstrated with the specific purpose of avoiding low evaluation and self-esteem and manifest itself as a psychological defense mechanism.
In the course of pursuing a goal, i.e. in the process of the volitional action itself, and especially after execution, its evaluation follows. Actions can be assessed from different points of view. The most common are socio-political, moral, and aesthetic assessments. But often an assessment can include a generalized integrated attitude towards an action.
The assessment reflects not only a personal attitude, but also the attitude of those closest and most significant to this action, i.e. referent for the personality of people. Indeed, when performing any action, we always internally assume how people close to us will react to it: friends, parents, teachers, etc. It is this assessment that is most capable of influencing our behavior. Therefore, group assessment or the group's attitude towards an individual is considered a powerful tool for changing his behavior. Evaluation of an action represents judgments approving, justifying or blaming, condemning decision making and actions taken. Evaluation is accompanied by special emotional experiences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the completed action. A negative attitude towards the action performed is often accompanied by regret about the action taken, the experience of shame, and repentance.
A person’s ability to consciously choose a volitional or alternative action, target motivation, volitional regulation of actions, states, mental processes is highly significant for many types of professional activity and socially active behavior, especially for the activities of managers.
Will, volitional actions
Theories of will
Mechanisms of volitional regulation
Development of the human will
Literature
will personality behavior overcoming
1. General concept about will. Functions of the will
Will is present in many acts of human behavior, helping guy overcome resistance, as well as other desires and needs on the way to the intended goal. For example, if a person does not want to drink bitter medicine, but he knows that it is extremely necessary for his health, then, suppressing his reluctance by willpower, he forces himself to systematically carry out the prescribed treatment.
Another example - a student wants to go to a disco, but his homework is not ready yet test To tomorrow. Overcoming a momentary desire with an effort of will, the student forces himself to work, setting the goal of tomorrow's success. We also observe the manifestation of will in various communication situations. For example, a person is unpleasant to us, but our further advancement objectively depends on him, therefore, through an effort of will, we restrain our hostility, put on a psychological “mask” suitable for the given situation, and as a result we achieve our goal.
Any human activity is always accompanied by actions that can be divided into two large groups:
Ø Free,
ØInvoluntary.
The main difference between voluntary actions is that they are carried out under the control of consciousness and require certain efforts on the part of a person aimed at achieving a consciously set goal. Voluntary or volitional actions develop on the basis of involuntary movements and actions.
The simplest of involuntary movements are reflex constriction and dilation of the pupils, blinking, swallowing, sneezing, etc. Involuntary movements also include withdrawal of the hand when touching a hot object, involuntary turning of the head in the direction of a sharp sound.
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.
The mechanism of the functioning of the will lies in the conscious regulation of activity in difficult living conditions. This regulation is based on the interaction of the processes of excitation and inhibition of the nervous system.
Most often, a person shows his will in the following typical situations:
Ø it is necessary to make a choice between two or more thoughts, goals, feelings that are equally attractive, but require opposite actions, and are incompatible with each other,
Ø no matter what, it is necessary to purposefully move towards the intended goal;
Ø On the path of a person’s practical activity, internal fears, uncertainty, doubts or external objective circumstances (obstacles) arise that must be overcome.
In other words, will, its presence or absence, manifests itself in all situations related to choice and acceptance.
The main functions of the will are:
1.choice of motives and goals,
2.regulation of the impulse to act when there is insufficient or excessive motivation;
3.organization of mental processes into a system that is adequate to the activity performed by a person;
4.mobilization of physical and mental capabilities in achieving set goals in a situation of overcoming obstacles.
2. Theories of will
Will as a phenomenon of the human psyche has long attracted the attention of thinkers, even in antiquity.
1.Thus, Aristotle introduced the concept of will into the system of categories of the science of the soul in order to explain how human behavior is realized in accordance with knowledge, which in itself is devoid of motivating power.
Aristotle's will acted as a factor capable of changing the course of behavior:
Ø initiate it
Østop,
Ø change direction and pace.
However, thinkers of antiquity, and later the Middle Ages, did not interpret the will in its modern personal understanding. Thus, in antiquity the concept of “will” was absorbed by the concept of “logic”. According to Aristotle, for example, any action follows primarily from a logical conclusion.
2.During the Middle Ages, there was a ritual of exoris - exorcism of the devil. Man in those days was perceived only as a passive principle, in which the will manifested itself in the form of good and evil spirits, sometimes even personified.
This understanding of will was due to the fact that traditional society actually denied independent behavior. S.I. Rogov notes that the personality appears in him only as a genus, as a program according to which the ancestors lived. The right to deviate was recognized only for certain members of society, for example:
Ø shaman - a person who communicates with the spirits of ancestors;
Ø a blacksmith - a person who has the power of fire and metal;
Ø robber - a criminal man who opposed himself to a given society.
3.The concept of will seems to be revived in modern times along with the emergence of the concept of personality, one of the main values of which is free will. A new worldview is emerging - existentialism, the “philosophy of existence”, according to which freedom is absolute, free will. M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, J.-P. Sartre and A. Camus believed that any person is essentially self-willed and irresponsible, and any social norms are a suppression of human essence.
4.In Russia, an interesting interpretation of will was presented by I.P. Pavlov, considering will as an “instinct” (reflex) of freedom. As an instinct for freedom, will is no less a stimulus for behavior than the instincts of hunger or danger.
Much controversy has arisen and is arising on the issue of the conscious or unconscious origin of the concept of “will”.
Ø Supporters of idealistic views interpreted it as a phenomenon of will, the inherent human ability to independently choose a goal and ways to achieve it. They interpreted the ability to make decisions expressing personal attitudes and beliefs as the result of the actions of an irrational force behind these acts.
Ø At one time, the German philosophers A. Schopenhauer and E. Hartmann absolutized the will, declaring it cosmic force, a blind unconscious principle, the derivative of which are all mental manifestations of a person.
Ø Psychoanalytic psychology represented the human will as a kind of energy of human actions. Proponents of psychoanalysis believed that a person’s actions are controlled by a certain biological energy human, transformed into mental. Freud identified this energy with the psychosexual energy of sexual desire - the unconscious libido, thereby explaining human behavior first by the “cultivated” manifestations of this life-affirming force Eros, and then by its struggle with the equally subconscious human desire for death Thantos.
Ø Proponents of the theory of will as a special supernatural force underlying the psyche and existence in general were such famous psychologists as W. Wundt and W. James. The theological interpretation of will is that will is identified with the divine principle in the world: God is the exclusive owner of free will, endowing it with people at his own discretion.
Ø Materialists interpret will as a side of the psyche that has a material basis in the form of nervous brain processes. Volitional or voluntary actions develop on the basis of involuntary movements and actions. The simplest of involuntary actions are reflex ones. This type also includes impulsive actions, unconscious, not subordinate to the general goal of the reaction. In contrast to involuntary actions, a person’s conscious actions are aimed at achieving his goal, which is characteristic of volitional behavior.
The material basis of voluntary movements is the activity of giant pyramidal cells located in one of the layers of the cerebral cortex in the region of the anterior central gyrus. Impulses for movement are generated in these cells. Scientists came to this conclusion by studying the causes of abulia (painful lack of will), which develops on the basis of brain pathology and appraxia (disturbances) in the voluntary regulation of movements and actions, making it impossible to carry out a volitional act, resulting from damage to the frontal lobes of the brain. The doctrine of the second signal system I.P. Pavlova significantly supplemented the materialistic concept, proving the conditioned reflex essence of will.
Modern research will in psychology are conducted in different scientific directions:
Ø in behaviorist-oriented science, certain forms of behavior are studied,
Ø in the psychology of motivation, the focus is on intrapersonal conflicts and ways to overcome them,
Ø in personality psychology, the main attention is focused on the identification and study of the corresponding volitional characteristics of the individual.
At the same time, modern psychology strives to give the science of will an integrative character.
Volitional regulation of human behavior and volitional qualities of the individual
Will and its power are manifested in volitional actions and actions of a person. Volitional actions, like all mental activity, according to I.P. Pavlov, are associated with the functioning of the brain. An important role in the implementation of volitional actions is played by the frontal lobes of the brain, in which, as research shows, the result achieved each time is compared with a previously drawn up goal program.
The will provides two interrelated functions: incentive and inhibitory, manifesting itself in them in the form of volitional action.
In accordance with these functions, the will is divided into:
Ø activating,
Ø motivating, stimulating,
Braking.
The incentive function promotes human activity based on the specifics of internal states that are revealed at the moment of the action itself.
The inhibitory function of the will manifests itself in restraining unwanted manifestations of activity.
The incentive and inhibitory functions constitute the “content” basis of the process of volitional regulation.
Taking into account the above, volitional regulation of human behavior in its most developed form is the conscious control of one’s own thoughts, feelings, desires and behavior. There are different levels of mental regulation.
The following levels of mental regulation are distinguished:
.involuntary regulation (pre-psychic involuntary reactions);
.figurative (sensory) and perceptual regulation;
.voluntary regulation (speech-mental level of regulation);
.volitional regulation ( highest level voluntary regulation of activity, ensuring overcoming difficulties in achieving the goal).
As a result of volitional regulation, a volitional act occurs. An elementary act of will arises only when another thought does not appear in a person’s head simultaneously with the thought of performing an action, interfering with its implementation.
Such an act can, for example, be considered an ideomotor act, which represents the ability of one thought about movement to cause the movement itself. A more complex volitional act is associated with overcoming the so-called “competing” idea, in the presence of which a person has a specific feeling of the effort being made, which is associated with the manifestation of willpower.
The most complex act of will is one in which, by overcoming internal and external resistance, the decision is consciously accepted and then implemented. Complex acts of will include, for example, giving up the bad habits of smoking, alcoholism and bad company. A complex act of will is not carried out instantly in real time; sometimes its implementation requires the application of maximum willpower. Complex acts of will are the highest indicator of a “strong-willed” person. Another difference between a “strong-willed” person and a “person of habit” is the presence of developed strong-willed qualities in the former.
Volitional qualities are divided into three categories:
Ø primary volitional qualities (willpower, perseverance, endurance);
Ø secondary, or derivative, volitional qualities (decisiveness, courage, self-control, confidence);
Ø tertiary volitional qualities (responsibility, discipline, commitment, integrity, efficiency, initiative).
The volitional qualities of a person are a dynamic category, capable of change and development throughout life. Volitional qualities are often aimed not so much at mastering circumstances and overcoming them, but at overcoming oneself. This especially applies to people of the impulsive type, unbalanced and emotionally excitable, when they have to act contrary to their natural or characterological data.
Mechanisms of volitional regulation
All achievements of man and humanity as a whole cannot be achieved without the participation of will, volitional regulation of behavior. All volitional processes that make up the regulation mechanism have several essential phases:
.the emergence of motivation and goal setting;
.stage of discussion and struggle of motives;
.decision making;
Execution.
The key concepts of phases 1-3 are attraction and desire. Attraction is an unconscious need, and desire is a conscious need, ready to turn first into a motive and then into a goal of behavior.
However, not every desire can immediately come true, since a person may have several uncoordinated desires at the same time, thereby giving rise to a struggle of motives. The struggle of motives is often accompanied by strong internal tension, especially if the desires are polar. In traditional psychology, the struggle of motives is considered as the core of a volitional act. Overcoming internal conflict occurs only through awareness of the real significance and correlation of motives, their importance for a person and the consequences resulting from volitional action.
Decision making is the final moment of the struggle of motives, giving rise to a sense of responsibility for action specific to an act of will. The decision-making process is quite complex, and its speed largely depends on such a category as a person’s “determination,” the degree of which depends on the following factors:
Ø the presence of reasonable grounds for carrying out an act of will;
Ø the dynamics and strength of external circumstances that determine the scale of motives;
Ø temperament and characterological characteristics of the person making the decision.
The diagram proposed by L.D. will help to better understand this idea. Stolyarenko (Fig. 31).
Rice. 31. Dynamics of will depending on the complexity of the external world and the complexity of a person’s inner world
Designations:
Will is not required, human desires are simple, unambiguous, any desire is feasible in an easy world;
Willful efforts are required to overcome the obstacles of reality, patience is needed, but the person himself is internally calm, confident in his rightness due to the unambiguousness of his desires and goals;
Willful efforts are required to overcome internal contradictions and doubts. A person is internally complex, there is a struggle between motives and goals, he suffers when making a decision;
Intensive volitional efforts are required to overcome internal doubts in order to choose decisions and carry out actions in conditions of objective obstacles and difficulties. Volitional action here acts as a deliberate, purposeful action consciously accepted for implementation on the basis of external and internal necessity.
The final phase of the volitional process is execution. The execution stage has a complex internal structure: making a decision does not mean immediately implementing it.
The execution of a decision is very closely related to such a category as time. If execution is delayed for a significant period, then we are talking about intention, which, in turn, must be carefully planned, which will determine the success and speed of execution. For final decision making and execution, volitional effort is required.
Volitional effort is a form of emotional stress that mobilizes a person’s internal resources and creates additional motives for action to achieve a goal.
Willpower depends on the following factors:
Ø worldview of the individual;
Ø moral stability;
Ø the presence of social significance of the goals;
Ø attitudes towards action;
Ø level of personality self-organization.
In other words, the will is a kind of reflection of the structure of the personality and its internal features. The volitional action of each person is unique.
Knowledge of the mechanisms of volitional regulation and methods of developing will is necessary for every person striving for systematic and successful self-development and achieving life goals.
Development of the human will
Will is one of the human qualities that is potentially inherent before birth and which, at the same time, can be developed throughout life. The range of a strong will is as great as the range of a weak will.
The desire to strengthen one’s will and expand the range of application of volitional action most often arises in people with internal localization of control.
Localization of control is a person's tendency to attribute responsibility for the results of an action to external or internal forces. Depending on this, internals and externals are distinguished.
Internals most often feel personal responsibility for their actions, explaining them by their personal characteristics, so they strive to work on themselves, improve themselves, including developing their will.
Externals try to explain everything by external circumstances, absolving themselves of all responsibility and thereby reducing the relevance of volitional activity and volitional training.
A person who wants to control himself and his circumstances, who wants to overcome destructive emotions and qualities, such as fear and laziness, can strengthen his will and increase the range of his capabilities through training.
When working on the development of will, you can rely on the recommendations given by L.I. Ruvinsky and S.I. Khokhlov.
1.It is better not to make decisions than to make and not implement them. The decision made must be implemented.
2.The goal must be useful, socially significant, and attractive.
.The goal you set must be carefully considered. You cannot set goals and make decisions when you are in a state of strong emotional arousal, anger, or when the most significant circumstances related to the implementation of your decision cannot be taken into account.
.The goal you set must match your capabilities. It will be achieved if:
Ø the willpower required to carry out the decision;
Ø specific knowledge and skills necessary to implement the decision;
Ø developed one or another volitional quality of endurance, perseverance, diligence, courage, determination;
Ø time and funds required to implement the decision.
5.The goal must be absolutely specific:
Ø deadlines are indicated, the minimum amount of daily planned work is precisely defined;
Ø the total duration of work on something;
Ø the expected result is clearly indicated;
Ø the means of implementing the decision are indicated.
Ø the main goal should be divided into a number of intermediate ones.
A necessary condition The effectiveness of goal setting is the ability to make it achievable, attractive and include it as an integral part of motives that are meaningful to us and actually work.
Thus, its motivating power depends on the awareness of the significance of the goal, its correct choice, and the combination of short, medium and long-term prospects.
To successfully implement our plans, internal activity is necessary. It must be purposeful and carried out competently, with an understanding of the essence of the mental processes occurring in us. By learning to manage our feelings and mental states, we receive a double benefit: firstly, we develop and strengthen the necessary character traits of self-control and endurance, and secondly, we also induce the necessary mental states that help us achieve our goals.
A sufficient level of will development is a necessary basis and condition for the implementation of a self-education program. That is why self-education of the will is not only the goal of developing one of the personality qualities, but is also necessary for its formation as a whole.
Literature
1. Under the general ed. A.A. Krylova, S.A. Manicheva: Workshop on general, experimental and applied psychology. - St. Petersburg; M.; Kharkov; Minsk: Peter, 2005
Ed. B.A. Sosnovsky: Psychology. - M.: Yurayt, 2005
Rean A.A. Psychology and pedagogy. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005
Council of Educational Institutions of Universities of the Russian Federation on Psychology; Ed. T.D. Martsinkovskaya: Rec. M.Yu. Kondratyev, A.I. Podolsky: Developmental Psychology. - M.: Academy, 2005
Tikhomirov O.K. Psychology of thinking. - M.: Academy, 2005
Psychology. Minimum programs for candidate exams. - M.: Ikar, 2004
Aismontas B.B. General psychology: Schemes. - M.: Vlados-Press, 2004
Bodalev A.A. General psychodiagnostics. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2004
Volkov B.S. Psychology of human development. - M.: Academic Project, 2004
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Let's compare two types of behavior regulation mechanisms: emotional and volitional. Emotions serve as an important, but practically little controllable with the help of consciousness, mechanism for regulating motivational activity and the sphere of feelings. The functions of the will are in many ways opposite and consist in the implementation of goals consciously set by a person in the course of mental activity. Moreover, the achievement of which, as a rule, requires overcoming many desires, aspirations and feelings of a given person. Thus the will carries out conscious regulation behavior. Moreover, this regulation takes place in conditions of a constant balance between a person’s interests, his life goals, motivations, feelings, on the one hand, and the restrictions imposed by intellectual forecasts of the consequences of this activity, as well as moral and social norms, on the other hand.
In other words, will is a tool used by higher-order motivations in the process of intellectual planning and implementation of a person’s life goals (see Fig. 11.24). Based on this, an act of will always includes a struggle between multidirectional motivations, their intellectual assessment from the point of view of compliance with moral and social norms and life- or career-threatening consequences of implementation.
In this regard, it can be assumed that volitional signals can, generally speaking, inhibit behavior “recommended” by positive emotions, for example, if this behavior, although pleasant for the subject from the point of view of satisfying some motivations, contradicts moral and social norms and values. A typical example is a person’s struggle with so-called bad habits. The list of such habits, as we know, is almost endless - from smoking to drugs, from alcohol to various forms of deception, including so-called selfless lies, embellishing one’s own merits, one’s own achievements, abilities, etc.
Volitional acts are also necessary for the implementation of behavior associated with overcoming negative emotions in cases of feeling pain, fatigue, or real danger to life. Intellectually formed goals require a person to take actions that inevitably entail negative emotions in situations such as the need to undergo surgery or unpleasant treatment, the need to communicate with an unpleasant partner, etc. In this case, an act of will is a thinking tool that allows you to consciously overcome the barrier of negative emotions (Fig. 11.33).
Let us also note that at least the need for mechanisms somewhat similar in their functions to the mechanisms of will should appear in any social animals living in communities. In other words, volitional elements can appear in those animals in whose behavior contradictions arise between individual needs (for example, food, position in the social hierarchy) and the same needs of other members of the community.
Thus, there is the inevitability of the emergence of a mechanism of volitional regulation in the process of evolutionary development of living organisms. Otherwise (in the absence of volitional control), it would be necessary to abandon both positive and negative emotions, since the body would not have a mechanism for overcoming them. On the other hand, as we have already seen earlier, the existence of an organism without emotions is impossible. In this case, in the absence of signals about “harmful” situations, the body will not be able to avoid them or even, perhaps, will strive to get into them (in the broad sense of the word).
What can be said about the characteristics of the process of volitional control of behavior (Fig. 11.34)? Due to the fact that the volitional actions of the individual mainly take place at the conscious level, they are
Rice. 11.33.
Rice. 11.34.
to a very strong degree are determined not only by innate, but also by consciously developed character traits of a person. First of all, these characteristics include the following property: willpower, those. the maximum value of volitional influence that a person can develop to achieve the goal. Thus, when speaking about willpower, we mean assessing a person’s efforts to perform actions that are unpleasant for him. For example, actions related to communication or physically difficult work in an uncomfortable environment, or internal actions, for example, related to overcoming difficult to understand or simply not personally interesting places during the learning process.
A person’s character also determines such qualities as perseverance, those. the ability to make long-term efforts to overcome difficulties in the process of achieving a goal. It should be noted that, unlike willpower, perseverance is not necessarily associated with overcoming “exorbitant” difficulties. A persistent person can simply long time do not forget to track progress towards the goal and take at the same time, albeit small, but necessary steps in the direction predetermined by him.
Another quality directly related to persistence is excerpt, those. the ability to slow down, exclude from the sphere of attention actions, feelings and thoughts that interfere with progress towards a given goal. It is clear that this characteristic is directly related to the ability to streamlining thinking, with the ability to plan, organize and switch attention from one thing to another in a timely manner.
The next group of volitional qualities is even more closely related to character traits. It includes such qualities of will or character traits as determination, self-control, and self-confidence. Availability decisiveness determines a person’s ability to choose a line of behavior without hesitation, quickly, confidently, without endless revisions and “treading water” and also clearly implement the decisions made. Naturally, the quality of decisiveness acquires useful significance only if a person is able to correctly assess the situation and, therefore, correctly formulate the goals and objectives of behavior, otherwise decisive but incorrect actions become much worse than a manifestation of indecisiveness.
Self-control And self confidence- qualities that determine a person’s ability to subordinate his behavior to achieving a goal, regardless of the appearance of various distracting circumstances, even if these circumstances represent serious obstacles.
As an illustration of what has been said, we cite lines from G. Heine’s programmatic poem “Doctrine”:
Beat the drum and don't be afraid
Kiss the sutler when she knocks;
All worldly wisdom is in this,
The whole meaning of the deepest sciences.
Be the drum of the sleeping ones,
Beat the alarm tirelessly;
Move forward and forward -
This is the meaning of all wisdom.
And Hegel and the secrets of science -
Everything is in this doctrine alone;
I understood it because I am a dashing drummer myself!
(translation A. Tolstoy)
What are the main signs of volitional behavior?
These features can be deduced from the multifaceted descriptive definition of will given above. Volitional behavior is a person's behavior that:
- consciously controlled by the person himself;
- is goal-oriented;
- associated with decision making;
- correlates with the struggle of equivalent motives, which by themselves are not able to give rise to uniquely purposeful behavior;
- involves the application of internal efforts to implement it, that is, to overcome obstacles that arise on the way to the goal.
These five characteristics distinguish volitional behavior from weak-willed behavior - behavior in which the will does not take an active part in the management.
The presence of any of these signs is sufficient for the corresponding human behavior to be called volitional.
The absence of all five signs means that we are dealing with weak-willed behavior. In all other cases, we are talking about the partial participation of the will in the regulation of behavior. There are quite a lot of examples of such behavior, in the regulation of which the will does not take part. These are all types of behavior performed, for example, on an unconscious level. These include involuntary actions and automatic reactions of a person to any internal impulses or external influences. This is also the behavior of a person under the influence of hallucinations, in a state of delirium, under the influence of hypnosis, in a dream or in a half-asleep state. The vast majority of cases associated with automatic mental regulation of organic processes also relate to weak-willed behavior.
In general, a person is characterized by a combination of strong-willed and weak-willed behavior. Volitional behavior in activity prevails when what a person is doing at the moment has special meaning for him or when intractable obstacles arise on the path of purposeful activity that need to be understood, realized, and a reasonable decision made regarding how to act in the current situation.
When we use the concept of “will,” we use it to characterize not only a person’s behavior, but also him as a person.For example, we say: “This person is certainly strong-willed, and that person is probably weak-willed.”
Using statements of this kind, we mean that people may or may not have certain special personality qualities, which are called strong-willed. Such qualities really exist. They can be defined as properties of a person’s character in which his will is manifested. These properties include, for example, stubbornness, perseverance, determination, perseverance, responsibility, commitment, diligence and a number of other personal properties. Familiarization with the list of such properties shows that a person as an individual can be assessed differently from the point of view of the level of development of these properties. For example, such volitional properties as stubbornness and perseverance characterize a person as not a very highly developed personality, while determination and responsibility, on the contrary, represent a person as a highly developed personality. It follows that as a person develops, his volitional qualities also improve..
How are the volitional qualities of a person formed and developed?
Before answering this question, let us reformulate it as follows: how does the will of a person develop as a whole and, together with it, his individual volitional qualities? Observations of the behavior of children show that the first clear signs of the manifestation of volitional behavior in them can be found between the second and third years of life. This means that it is during this period that children already have will and can demonstrate it. It can be assumed that the beginning of the formation of will dates back to the time when the child appears the first persistent actions aimed at overcoming obstacles, reinforced by adults watching the children. This usually happens between the first and second years of a child's life. A sign that the child is beginning to develop his own will and the associated pleasure appears in connection with successfully overcoming an obstacle is the child’s independent repetition of actions that were not entirely successful in achieving the goal. This behavior can be observed in some children starting at about 6-8 months. For example, a baby is trying to reach an object or toy. He does not immediately succeed in this, but he persistently repeats the corresponding action until it leads to success, and after that he experiences obvious pleasure.
The first signs of volitional behavior observed in children, dating back to the second or third year of life, indicate that the children have formed the so-called primary volitional qualities. In this case we are talking, for example, about such qualities as perseverance and stubbornness, that is, about qualities that characterize a relatively low level of volitional development of a person. We can probably talk about the beginning of the formation of secondary volitional personality traits only from the time when the child’s volitional behavior acquires a rational and conscious character. This usually occurs during the period of life from 5 to 6 years or earlier in pre-preschool age. At this time, many children, in the types of activities available to them - games, and also, partly, in communication, learning and work, begin to manifest persistence, determination, responsibility, that is, the actual secondary volitional qualities of the individual. The human will actively continues to develop further during childhood. The teenage period is especially important in this regard, since for many teenagers willpower becomes one of the most valuable personality traits and almost all children of this age begin to purposefully and actively develop their will.
By the end of adolescence and the beginning of adolescence, the basic volitional qualities of a person can be considered formed. In practice this means the following. Firstly, if by this age a person’s will has been developed, then he can independently manifest it in all matters that he undertakes. Secondly, if a person lacks will, then after this age it is already difficult to fight this deficiency. Thirdly, teenagers who have a will usually begin from this age to develop personally faster than teenagers who grew up weak-willed. Beyond adolescence, that is, after 25-30 years, the will, apparently, no longer develops in a person. If by this age a person has already become strong-willed, then he will most likely remain so; if by this age he has become weak-willed, then, most likely, he will remain so in the future.
What has been said, however, does not mean that the will of a person after the specified age and as it psychological development(it undoubtedly continues) does not change at all. Those changes of a volitional nature that can occur, and sometimes actually occur, after 25-30 years, are manifested in the fact that a person’s volitional behavior becomes more and more reasonable, conscious and balanced. Before putting volitional effort into something, a person thinks, weighs his chances, decides for himself whether it is worth doing something that requires volitional effort from him or not, and if after much thought he comes to the conclusion that it is It’s worth doing, only then does it begin to show its will. In other words, the will of a person, as he develops psychologically, ceases to be a blind, unreasonable force and becomes a conscious aid to his reason.