Will- one of the most complex concepts in psychology. Will is considered both as an independent mental process, and as an aspect of other major mental phenomena, and as unique ability individuals arbitrarily control their behavior.
Will is a mental function that literally permeates all aspects of human life. In the content of volitional action, three main features are usually distinguished:
- Will provides purposefulness and orderliness human activity. But the definition of S.R. Rubinshtein, "Volitional action is a conscious, purposeful action by which a person achieves the goal set for him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan."
- Will as a person's ability to self-regulate makes him relatively free from external circumstances, truly turns him into an active subject.
- Will is a person's conscious overcoming of difficulties on the way to the goal. Faced with obstacles, a person either refuses to act in the chosen direction, or increases efforts. to overcome the difficulties encountered.
Will Functions
Thus, volitional processes perform three main functions:
- initiator, or incentive, providing the beginning of this or that action in order to overcome the emerging obstacles;
- stabilizing associated with volitional efforts to maintain activity at the proper level in the event of external and internal interference;
- brake which is to restrain other, often strong desires that are not consistent with the main goals of the activity.
act of will
The most important place in the problem of will is occupied by the concept of "volitional act". Each volitional act has a certain content, the most important components of which are decision-making and its execution. These elements of the volitional act often cause significant mental stress, similar in nature to the state.
The following main components are distinguished in the structure of a volitional act:
- urge to commit a volitional action, caused by a particular need. Moreover, the degree of awareness of this need can be different: from a vaguely realized attraction to a clearly realized goal;
- the presence of one or more motives and the establishment of the order of their implementation:
- "struggle of motives" in the process of choosing one or another of conflicting motives;
- making a decision in the process of choosing one or another variant of behavior. At this stage, either a feeling of relief or a state of anxiety associated with uncertainty about the correctness of the decision may arise;
- implementation of the decision taken, the implementation of one or another option of action.
At each of these stages of a volitional act, a person manifests will, controls and corrects his actions. At each of these moments, he compares the result obtained with the ideal image of the goal that was created in advance.
In the personality of a person, its main features are clearly manifested.
Will manifests itself in such personality traits as:
- purposefulness;
- independence;
- determination;
- persistence;
- excerpt;
- self-control;
Each of these properties is opposed by opposite character traits, in which lack of will is expressed, i.e. lack of one's own will and submission to someone else's will.
The most important volitional property of a person is purposefulness how to achieve your life goals.
Independence manifests itself in the ability to take actions and make decisions based on intrinsic motivation and their knowledge, skills and abilities. A dependent person is focused on subordination to another, on shifting responsibility to him for his actions.
Determination It is expressed in the ability to make a well-considered decision in a timely manner and without hesitation and put it into practice. The actions of a decisive person are characterized by thoughtfulness and speed, courage, confidence in their actions. The opposite of decisiveness is indecision. A person characterized by indecision constantly doubts, hesitates in making decisions and using the chosen methods of decision. An indecisive person, even having made a decision, begins to doubt again, waits for what others will do.
Endurance and self-control have the ability to control oneself, one's actions and outward manifestation emotions, constantly control them, even with failures and big failures. The opposite of endurance is the inability to restrain oneself, which is caused by the lack of special education and self-education.
persistence It is expressed in the ability to achieve the set goal, overcoming difficulties on the way to its achievement. A persistent person does not deviate from the decision made, and in case of failures, he acts with redoubled energy. A person deprived of perseverance, at the first failure, deviates from the decision made.
Discipline means the conscious submission of one's behavior to certain norms and requirements. Discipline manifests itself in various forms both in behavior and in thinking, and is the opposite of indiscipline.
Courage and boldness are manifested in the readiness and ability to fight, to overcome difficulties and dangers on the way to achieving the goal, in the readiness to defend one's life position. Courage is opposed to such a quality as cowardice, usually caused by fear.
The formation of the listed volitional properties of the personality is determined mainly by the purposeful education of the will, which should be inseparable from the education of feelings.
Willpower and volitional regulation
To move on to a conversation about differences in the will, you need to understand this concept itself. Will, as you know, is the ability to choose the goal of an activity and the internal efforts necessary for its implementation. This is a specific act, not reducible to consciousness and activity as such. Not every conscious action, even associated with overcoming obstacles on the way to the goal, is volitional: the main thing in a volitional act is awareness value characteristic the purpose of the action, its compliance with the principles and norms of the individual. The subject of the will is characterized not by the experience of “I want”, but by the experience of “I must”, “I must”. Carrying out a volitional action, a person opposes the power of actual needs, impulsive desires.
In its structure, volitional behavior breaks down into decision-making and its implementation.. When the goal of a volitional action and the actual need do not coincide, the decision-making is often accompanied by what is called in the psychological literature a struggle of motives (the act of choice). The decision made is implemented in different psychological conditions, ranging from those in which it is enough to make a decision, and the action after that is carried out as if by itself (for example, the actions of a person who saw a drowning child), and ending with those in which the implementation volitional behavior any strong need is opposed, which gives rise to the need for special efforts to overcome it and achieve the intended goal (manifestation of willpower).
Various interpretations of the will in the history of philosophy and psychology are connected, first of all, with the opposition of determinism and indeterminism: the first considers the will as conditioned from the outside (by physical, psychological, social reasons, or divine predestination - in supranaturalistic determinism), the second - as an autonomous and self-sustaining force. In the teachings of voluntarism, will appears as the original and primary basis of the world process and, in particular, human activity.
The difference in philosophical approaches to the problem of will is reflected in the psychological theories of will, which can be divided into two groups: autogenetic theories that consider will as something specific, not reducible to any other processes (W. Wundt and others), and heterogeneous theories that define the will as something secondary, a product of some other mental factors and phenomena - a function of thinking or representation (intellectualistic theory, many representatives of the school of I.F. Herbart, E. Meiman and others), feelings (G. Ebbinghaus and others), a complex of sensations, etc.
Soviet psychology at one time, relying on dialectical and historical materialism, considered the will in the aspect of its socio-historical conditioning. The main direction was the study of the phylo- and ontogeny of voluntary (originating from the will) actions and higher mental functions (voluntary perception, memorization, etc.). The arbitrary nature of the action, as shown by L.S. Vygotsky, is the result of the mediation of the relationship between man and the environment by tools and sign systems. In the process of development of the child's psyche, the initial involuntary processes of perception, memory, etc. acquire an arbitrary character, become self-regulating. At the same time, the ability to keep the goal of the action develops.
Important role in the study of the will, the works of the Soviet psychologist D.N. Uznadze and his schools on the theory of attitude.
The problem of educating the will has great importance and for pedagogy, in connection with which various methods are being developed that aim to train the ability to maintain the efforts necessary to achieve the goal. The will is closely connected with the character of a person and plays a significant role in the process of its formation and restructuring. According to the widespread point of view, character is the same basis of volitional processes as intelligence is the basis of thought processes, and temperament is the basis of emotional processes.
Like other types of mental activity, the will - a reflex process physiological basis and type of commission.
The evolutionary prerequisite for volitional behavior is the so-called freedom reflex in animals, an innate reaction for which a forcible restriction of movements serves as an adequate stimulus. "Not be it (freedom reflex), - wrote I.P. Pavlov, “every slightest obstacle that an animal would meet on its way would completely interrupt the course of its life.” According to the Soviet scientist V.P. Protopopov and other researchers, it is the nature of the obstacle that determines in higher animals the enumeration of actions from which an adaptive skill is formed. Thus, the will, as an activity conditioned by the need to overcome the encountered obstacle, has a certain independence in relation to the motive that initially initiated the behavior. Selective inhibition of the coping reaction. as well as the specific effect of certain medicinal substances on this reaction, we can speak of the presence of a special brain apparatus that implements the freedom reflex in Pavlovian understanding of it. The system of speech signals plays an important role in the mechanisms of human volitional effort (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, A.R. Luria). A competing need often becomes an obstacle to purposeful human behavior. Then the dominance of one of the motives will be determined not only by its correlative strength, but also by the emergence of activity, in relation to which the subdominant motive is an obstacle, an internal hindrance. A similar situation occurs in those cases when it is customary to talk about the volitional suppression of emotions, more precisely, the needs that caused these emotions. Being closely connected with the actions, consciousness and emotions of a person, will is an independent form of his mental life. While emotions ensure the mobilization of energy resources and the transition to those forms of response that are oriented to a wide range of supposedly significant signals (emotional dominants), the will prevents excessive generalization of emotional arousal and helps to maintain the initially chosen direction. In turn, volitional behavior can be a source positive emotions before the ultimate goal is reached, by satisfying the very need to overcome obstacles. That is why the combination of a strong will with an optimal level of emotional stress is the most productive for human activity.
The problem of will, arbitrary and volitional regulation of human behavior and activity has long occupied the minds of scientists, causing heated disputes and discussions. Fine in Ancient Greece There are two points of view on understanding the will: affective and intellectualistic.
Plato understood the will as a certain ability of the soul, which determines and encourages the activity of a person.
Aristotle connected the will with the mind. He used this term to designate a certain class of actions and deeds of a person, namely those that are determined not by needs, desires, but by an understanding of need, necessity, i.e. conscious actions and actions or aspirations mediated by reflection. Aristotle spoke of voluntary movements in order to separate them from involuntary, carried out without thinking. He referred to arbitrary actions as those about which "We consulted with ourselves beforehand."
From the history of psychology, it is known that the concept of "will" was introduced as an explanatory about the origin of an action, which is based not only on the desires of a person, but also on a mental decision about its implementation.
In the future, intensive development of ideas about the will begins only in the 17th century. and continues in the XVIII-XIX centuries, in the New Age, marked by the rapid development of natural science and psychological knowledge. These ideas can be divided into three directions, which in modern psychology are presented as motivational and regulatory approaches, as well as the “free choice” approach.
motivational approach. Within the framework of this approach, ideas about the nature of freedom are reduced either to the initial moment of action motivation (desire, aspiration, affect), or to the recognition of freedom as closely related to motivation, but not identical to it, the ability to induce actions, in particular, to overcome obstacles.
The identification of the will and the desire dominating in consciousness can be traced in the views of a significant part of the researchers. So, some of them explained the will as the ability of the soul to form desires, others - as the last desire preceding the action. Thus, the will did not arise as an independent reality. but as one of the desires, the benefit of which is established by reason. In this case, the essence of the motive was emotions, and the volitional process had two moments: affect and the action caused by it (R. Descartes, T. Hobbes, W. Wundt, T. Ribot).
TO regulatory approach in the study of the will belongs to the concept of free will as the ability to consciously deliberately overcome obstacles. If motivation is only a factor, the initiator of an action, then the existence of obstacles on the way to the performance of an action and their deliberate overcoming becomes a factor in an act of will. This is how L.S. overcomes obstacles. Vygotsky and S.L. Rubinstein. At the same time, they also include coercion as a function of the will. At the same time, noting complex nature will, scientists point to the importance of the regulatory function.
Free choice approach. For the first time, the question of spontaneous, undetermined free choice of behavior was raised by the ancient philosopher Epicurus. In the future, this led to the allocation of the problem of free will.
The positions of the representatives of this approach were fundamentally differentiated. One part of the scientists believed that the versatility of the world is manifested in the will. In their opinion, in the Universe there is a single world will, which is completely free in its manifestations, is not limited by anything and therefore powerful. Man has a universal will, which is represented in his own character. It is given to man from birth as unchanging and generally unknowable. These scientists interpreted the will as an independent force of the soul capable of free choice (A. Schopenhauer, W. James). Such ideas were considered voluntaristic, for they declared the will supreme principle being and affirmed the independence of the human will from the surrounding reality.
They took a different position. who considered the will not as an independent force, but as the ability of the mind to make decisions (make a choice). At the same time, choice was either the main function of the will, or only one of the moments of volitional action (B. Spinoza, I. Kant, V. Frankl, and others).
In the will as a synthetic characteristic of the personality, its systemic property, the practical side of consciousness is expressed. One cannot but agree with those who believe: if there is a will, there is a person; if there is no will, there is no person; how much will, there is so much a person.
The data available today make it possible to interpret the will as a systemic quality in which the whole personality is expressed in an aspect that reveals the mechanisms of its independent, initiative activity. According to this criterion, all human actions can be considered as a successively more complex series from involuntary (impulsive) to arbitrary and actually volitional actions. It manifests itself in arbitrary actions, according to I.M. Sechenov, the ability of a person to lead the challenge, termination, intensification or weakening of activity aimed at achieving consciously set goals. In other words, there is always an action instructions and self-instructions.
Actually, they cannot but be arbitrary at the same time, since they also always represent actions on self-instruction. However, their characterization does not end there. Volitional actions (will as a generalized designation of the highest level of control specific to a person with all his psychophysical data) suggest the ability of a person to subordinate the satisfaction of lower needs to higher, more significant, albeit less attractive points of view. actor. The presence of will in this sense reliably testifies to the predominance of higher, socially conditioned needs in a person and the higher (normative) feelings corresponding to them.
At the heart of volitional behavior driven by higher feelings, lie, thus, assimilated by the personality social norms. The code of human norms, which determines which course of action he will choose in a particular situation, is one of the most eloquent characteristics of a person, especially in terms of the degree to which it takes into account (or ignores) the rights, legitimate claims and aspirations of other people.
In those cases when lower needs subjugate higher ones in human activity, we speak of lack of will, although a person can overcome great difficulties in order to achieve his goal (trying, for example, to get alcohol, drugs, etc.). Consequently, the essence of a morally educated, good will lies in the subordination of lower (in some cases antisocial) needs to higher ones, expressing the needs of larger groups, sometimes humanity as a whole.
An important psychological mechanism for the conscious hierarchization of motives is volitional effort. Volitional effort is a conscious self-motivation associated with tension to prefer higher aspirations and inhibit lower ones, to overcome the corresponding external and internal difficulties. As you know, submission to lower impulses, directly more attractive, leading to easier and more pleasant actions, does not require effort.
Volitional components included in the regulation of integral acts of activity are closely intertwined with a person's emotions and the level of his orientation in the environment. This can be traced in any manifestations of activity. Thus, the more perfect, more adequate to the problem to be solved the orienting activity, the higher, other things being equal, the higher the level of organization and its direct consequence—the economy of activity. Features of the connection of volitional manifestations with the nature of a person's awareness of reality and one's own activity are fixed in such volitional properties of a person as the criticality of the will, its adherence to principles, etc.
An analysis of behavioral acts that include emotions of heightened and sometimes extreme intensity, from the point of view of the correlation of the strength of emotions in them with the level of orientation and organization, can shed light on the nature of the striking difference between affects that disorganize activity and feelings that ensure its productivity with the highest mobilization of all resources. . A typical affect is, for example, panic. This state is characterized, firstly, by the experience of horror associated with a passive-defensive reaction, which paralyzes the ability to orientate. This, as a rule, is exacerbated by the disruption of communication channels, misinformation. Hence the complete disorganization of both the system of joint actions and the actions of each individual. Affects, which are an expression of active-defensive reactions, can also lead to disorganization of activity. It is important to emphasize that the disorganization of activity is not a direct consequence of an extreme emotion. The intermediate and connecting link here is always a violation of orientation. Anger, rage, like horror, cloud the mind. However, in cases where the strongest emotional stress corresponds to a clear orientation in the environment and high organization, a person is able to literally work miracles.
In an attempt to explain the mechanisms of human behavior within the framework of the problem of will, a direction arose that in 1883, with the light hand of the German sociologist F. Tennis, received the name "voluntarism" and recognizes the will as a special, supranatural force. According to voluntarism, volitional acts are not determined by anything, but they themselves determine the course mental processes. Shaping this is essentially philosophical. direction in the study of the will is associated with the early works of A. Schopenhauer, with the works of I. Kant. Thus, in its extreme expression, voluntarism opposed the volitional principle to the objective laws of nature and society, asserted the independence of the human will from the surrounding reality.
Will- this is a conscious regulation by a person of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties in the performance of purposeful actions and deeds.
Volitional actions- consciously controlled actions aimed at overcoming difficulties and obstacles in achieving the goals.
The key characteristic of volitional action is the struggle of motives.
characteristics of the will.- Conscious mediation.
- Mediation by the inner intellectual plane.
- Relationship with the motive "should".
- Communication with other mental processes: attention, memory. thinking, emotions, etc.
- Improving the efficiency of relevant activities.
- Volitional reflation is necessary in order to keep in the field of consciousness the object that a person is thinking about for a long time, to maintain attention concentrated on it.
- Regulation of basic mental functions: perception, memory, thinking, etc. Data development cognitive processes from the lowest to the highest means the acquisition by a person of volitional control over them.
- worldview of the individual;
- moral stability of the individual;
- the degree of social significance of the goals set;
- attitudes towards activities;
- the level of self-management and self-organization of the individual.
- Reassessment of the significance of the motive.
- Attraction of additional motives.
- Anticipation and experience of subsequent events/actions.
- Actualization of the motive (through the imagination of the situation).
- Through the motivational-semantic sphere.
- Strong mindset and beliefs.
- according to the degree of complexity - simple, complex;
- according to the degree of awareness - arbitrary, involuntary.
- strength of will;
- energy;
- persistence;
- excerpt.
- Choice of motives and goals.
- Regulation of motives for action.
- Organization of mental processes (into a system adequate to the activity performed).
Mobilization of physical and psychological capabilities. So, will is a generalized concept behind which many different psychological phenomena are hidden.
G. Münsterberg, noting, for example, the role of attention and representation in the formation of voluntary actions, writes that weak will child is his inability to keep his attention on the goal for a long time.
“Learning to want this or that is not important. The main thing is to learn to really do what is planned, and not be distracted by all sorts of random impressions.
A number of authors believe that the volitional properties of a person are formed in the process of activity. Therefore, for the development of “willpower” (volitional qualities), the path that seems most simple and logical is most often proposed: if “willpower” manifests itself in overcoming obstacles and difficulties, then the path of its development goes through the creation of situations that require such overcoming. However, practice shows that this does not always lead to success. Speaking about the development of “willpower” and volitional qualities, one should take into account their multi-component structure. One of the components of this structure is the moral component of the will, according to I.M. Sechenov, i.e. ideals, worldview, moral attitudes. - is formed in the process of education, others (for example, typological features of the properties of the nervous system), as genetically predetermined, do not depend on educational influences, and practically do not change in adults. Hence, the development of one or another volitional quality largely depends on the ratio in the structure of this quality of these components.
Of great importance for the formation of the volitional sphere of the child's personality is not only the presentation of requirements to him, verbalized in the words "must" and "impossible", but also control over the fulfillment of these requirements. If an adult says “no”, and the child continues to perform the forbidden action, if after the words “toys must be removed”, the child runs away and failure to comply with the requirements remains without consequences for him, the necessary stereotype of volitional behavior is not developed.
With age, the complexity of the demands placed on the child should increase. In this case, he himself is convinced that adults take into account his increased capabilities, i.e. recognize it as "big". However, it is necessary to take into account the degree of difficulties. which the child must overcome, and not turn the development of his volitional sphere into a boring and tedious task, in which the development of the will becomes an end in itself, and the whole life of the child turns, as S. L. Rubinshtein wrote, "into one continuous performance of different duties and tasks."
The younger the child, the more he needs help in overcoming difficulties in order for him to see the final result of his efforts.
Constant pulling, rude shouting, excessive fixation of the child's attention on his shortcomings and dangers of the upcoming activity, teasing, etc. lead to uncertainty, and through it to anxiety, indecision, fear.
In our manual, it is necessary to say about the role of taking into account gender characteristics. So, experiments were repeatedly carried out on self-education of will by high school students, in which differences were identified in the development of certain volitional manifestations depending on gender. The girls managed much faster than the boys to achieve success in correcting their shortcomings. Compared to boys, more girls learned to command themselves, developed independence, overcame stubbornness, developed determination, perseverance and perseverance. However, they lagged behind the young men in the development of courage, adherence to principles, and courage.
Self-education of the will
Self-education of the will is part of the self-improvement of the individual and, therefore, must be carried out in accordance with its rules and, above all, with the development of a program of self-education "willpower".
Many psychologists understand a volitional act as a complex functional system (Fig. 14).
So. also G.I. Chelpanov singled out three elements in the act of will: desire, aspiration and effort.
L.S. Vygotsky singled out two separate processes in volitional action: the first corresponds to a decision, the closing of a new brain connection, the creation of a special functional apparatus; the second, executive, consists in the work of the created apparatus, in the action according to the instructions, in the implementation of the decision.
The multicomponent and multifunctionality of the volitional act is also noted by V.I. Selivanov.
Based on the consideration of the will as an arbitrary control, the latter should include self-determination, self-initiation, self-control and self-stimulation.
Self-determination (motivation)
Determination is the conditionality of human and animal behavior by some reason. The involuntary behavior of animals, like the involuntary reactions of humans, are determined, i.e. due to some reason (most often - an external signal, stimulus). With arbitrary behavior, the ultimate cause of the action, the deed, is in the person himself. It is he who decides to react or not to this or that external or internal signal. However, decision-making (self-determination) in many cases is a complex mental process called motivation.
Rice. 14. Structure of a volitional act
Motivation - it is the process of forming and justifying the intention to do something or not to do something. The formed basis of one's act, action is called a motive. In order to understand a person's act, we often ask ourselves the question: what motive was the person guided by when performing this act?
Formation of a motive(the grounds for an action, deed) goes through a number of stages: the formation of a person's need, the choice of a means and method for satisfying a need, decision making and the formation of an intention to perform an action or deed.
Self-mobilization. This is the second function of the will. Self-initiation is concerned with starting an action to achieve a goal. The launch is carried out by means of a volitional impulse, i.e. command given to oneself with the help of inner speech- words or exclamations uttered to oneself.
self control
Due to the fact that the implementation of actions occurs most often in the presence of external and internal interference that can lead to a deviation from a given program of action and failure to achieve the goal, it is required to exercise conscious self-control over the received results. different stages results. For this control, an action program is used that is stored in short-term and operative memory, which serves as a standard for a person to compare with the resulting result. If a deviation from the given parameter (an error) is fixed in the mind of a person during such a comparison, he makes a correction to the program, i.e. carries out its correction.
Self-control is carried out with the help of conscious and deliberate, i.e. voluntary attention.
Self-mobilization (manifestation of willpower)
Very often, the implementation of an action or activity, the commission of an act encounters difficulties, external or internal obstacles. Overcoming obstacles requires an intellectual and physical effort from a person, referred to as an effort of will. The use of volitional effort means that arbitrary control has changed into volitional regulation, aimed at the manifestation of the so-called willpower.
Volitional regulation is determined by the strength of the motive (therefore, will is often replaced by motives: if I want, then I do; however, this formula is not suitable for cases when a person really wants, but does not do, and when he really does not want, but still does). Undoubtedly, however, that in any case, the strength of the motive determines the degree of manifestation of volitional effort: if I really want to achieve the goal, then I will show more intense and longer volitional effort; it is the same with the prohibition, the manifestation of the inhibitory function of the will: the more one wants, the greater the volitional effort must be exerted in order to restrain one's desire aimed at satisfying the need.
Volitional qualities are features of volitional regulation that have become personality traits and are manifested in specific specific situations due to the nature of the difficulty being overcome.
It should be borne in mind that the manifestation of volitional qualities is determined not only by a person’s motives (for example, the motive for achievement, determined by two components: striving for success and avoiding failure), his moral attitudes, but also by innate individual, personality-differentiating features of the manifestation of the properties of the nervous system: strengths - weaknesses , mobility - inertia, balance - imbalance nervous processes. For example, fear is more pronounced in individuals with weak nervous system, the mobility of inhibition and the predominance of inhibition over excitation. Therefore, it is more difficult for them to be brave than for persons with opposite typological features.
Consequently, a person can be timid, indecisive, impatient, not because he does not want to show willpower, but because, for its manifestation, he has less genetically determined opportunities (less innate inclinations).
This does not mean that efforts should not be made to develop the volitional sphere of the personality. However, it is necessary to avoid both excessive optimism and standard, especially voluntaristic, approaches in overcoming the weakness of the human volitional sphere. You need to know that on the path to developing willpower you can encounter significant difficulties, so patience, pedagogical wisdom, sensitivity and tact will be required.
It should be noted that in the same person, different volitional qualities manifest themselves differently: some are better, others are worse. This means that the will understood in this way (as a mechanism for overcoming obstacles and difficulties, i.e. as willpower) is heterogeneous and manifests itself differently in rough situations. Consequently, there is no single will (understood as willpower) for all cases, otherwise in any situation the will would manifest itself in a given person either equally successfully or equally badly.
CONCEPT
Will - the process of conscious regulation by a person of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties in the performance of purposeful actions and deeds.
In psychology, the problem of will exists in two versions: the first is represented by the traditional problem of self-determination, the second - by the problem of self-regulation. Volitional regulation in the variant of self-determination, according to scientists, occurs through a change in the meaning of the action that provides its motivation, or, conversely, its inhibition. Changing the meaning of an action is a necessary psychological mechanism of volitional action. So, according to L.M. Wecker, the regulation of behavior and activity can take place at three levels: sensory-perceptual, voluntary and volitional:
1) at the sensory-perceptual level images that regulate movements and actions control the behavior of the subject, regardless of his desire (involuntary);
2) at an arbitrary level actions are regulated consciously and involve intentions, planning, control. Here, actions are performed by the subject himself for a certain motive and do not need volitional regulation, since the components of the personality remain unincluded;
3)volitional regulation arises when a person encounters obstacles, external difficulties (time, space, physical properties things) or internal (attitude, fatigue, suffering). At this level, the individual becomes the subject of activity. In this case, a person is forced to create additional motives (meanings of action) and the action is performed not for the sake of the original motive, but for the personal values of a person or other people. Thus, volitional regulation is a connection to immediate motives that are personally significant, more often moral. The more moral a person is, the easier it is for him to strong-willed actions.
Volitional regulation is highest level regulation, which is a kind of arbitrary regulation, a special form of its manifestation. This point of view is shared by V.A. Ivannikov, L.M. Wecker and others.
At present, the most promising systematic study processes that take part in the regulation of human activity and behavior, mastering oneself (K.A. Abdulkhanova-Slavskaya, O.A. Konopkin, V.K. Kalin, T.I. Shulga, etc.).
Volitional regulation as the highest level of arbitrary regulation is aimed at improving a person’s activity and behavior, and ultimately at changing his personality, that is, volitional regulation, on the one hand, is aimed at changing the results of a particular activity, and on the other hand, at self-change. The functional structure of the process of volitional regulation consists of three components: 1) a motivational and incentive link (goal, motives); 2) the performing link (methods of action and behavior, both external, proposed by someone, and internal, developed by oneself; 3) evaluative-effective link (the results of actions and the results of the subject's self-change).
Volitional regulation - the highest level of voluntary regulation. It is characterized by intention, purposefulness, awareness, decision-making coming from the subject. Volitional regulation is realized in the conditions of overcoming subjective and objective difficulties, changes in the motivational and incentive sphere of activity and is aimed at improving the subject's behavior, activity and own personality.
Actions are arbitrary - actions performed with a goal, freely chosen, conscious and motivated.
Actions are involuntary- actions performed without setting a goal, unconscious, performed under the influence of perception.
Actions impulsive- an action “launched” by a stimulus, performed instantly, without thinking, it is short-term and often unmotivated.
Volitional actions- actions characterized by the following features: a) having a purposeful character; b) the goal is realized (reflected in the second signal system, that is, indicated by specific words); c) external (internal) difficulties are overcome on the way to the goal.
The will performs four functions.
1. Incentive and guiding to achieve the goal while overcoming difficulties. Volitional activity is characterized by over-situation, that is, going beyond the original goals, the requirements of the situation.
2. The inhibitory function of the will is manifested in the containment of unwanted activity, motives and actions that do not correspond to the worldview, ideals and beliefs of the individual.
3. Regulatory function is expressed in arbitrary, conscious regulation of actions, mental processes and behavior, in overcoming obstacles.
4. The developing function consists in the fact that volitional regulation is aimed at improving by the subject of his behavior, activities, at changing his own personality.
Mechanisms
Volitional activity is connected with the balance of excitation and inhibition. With a weakening of the process of excitation, apathy occurs in a person, with a dulling of the process of inhibition, greater activity develops. The mechanism of volitional action functions on the basis of the first and second signal systems. On the basis of temporary connections between various centers of the cerebral cortex, a wide variety of associations and their systems are formed and fixed, which creates the conditions for purposeful behavior. The regulator of volitional activity - the frontal lobes of the cortex hemispheres. They compare what has been achieved in each this moment result with a pre-programmed. The function of regulation is performed by special pyramidal cells of the brain. When these cells are damaged, paralysis or awkwardness of movements occurs, skills are lost.
The structure of the act of will
1. Motivation to action (needs, motives).
2. Obstacle and struggle of motives (connection of other motives - personal values). The struggle of motives can continue for a long time, or the action stops due to a lack of proper motivation.
3. Making a decision.
4. Execution of an action accompanied by an effort of will. This step may also be quite long or not be performed at all.
5. Reflection (self-control, self-esteem).
6. The volitional action ends with the pleasure of its successful implementation or the extraction of a “lesson” if it did not achieve the desired result. In any case, as a result of an act of will, personality develops.
How the subject evaluates the result of a volitional action depends on the type of control (locus of control) that has developed in the personality.
Locus- the location of something.
Locus of control(internal - internal) - a stable quality of a person, expressed in the acceptance by a person of responsibility for his actions and events occurring to him, explaining them with his behavior, mistakes, etc.
Locus of control(external - external) - a stable tendency of the individual to attribute responsibility for everything that happens to her external factors(accidents, circumstances and
Reflection(lat. reflexio - reflection, reversal) - internal mental activity a person, aimed at comprehending their own actions and states; self-knowledge by a person of his spiritual world.
Theories of will
Mention of the will can be found in Aristotle. One of the well-known theories of will in the philosophy of the XIX century. was voluntarism. Voluntarists (Schopenhauer, Akh, and others) considered the will to be a special supranatural force that determines the course of mental processes and the free choice of behavior. They understood the will as absolute freedom, not connected with society. Representatives of another mechanistic theory of will (C. Lombroso and others) completely denied the freedom of the will of man and believed that the will depends entirely on the circumstances in which the person is (man is a weak-willed toy of nature). IN last years a concept is developed according to which human behavior is understood as initially active, capable of independently choosing forms of behavior that are adequate to the laws of nature and society that he has learned, as well as to his own personal meaning(Frankl, Rubinstein, Ivannikov and others).
Properties and patterns
Will has certain qualities: strength, stability and breadth.
Willpower - the degree of excitation of volitional effort.
The stability of the will is the constancy of manifestation in situations of the same type.
The breadth of the will - the number of activities (sports, study, work, etc.) in which the will manifests itself.
The will is inextricably linked with the personality and manifests itself in its qualities. One of the classifications (V.A. Ivannikov) distinguishes three blocks of volitional qualities of a person:
1) moral and volitional qualities (responsibility, commitment, vigor, initiative, independence, discipline);
2) emotional-volitional (purposefulness, endurance, patience, calmness;
3) actually volitional (courage, courage, determination, perseverance).
Responsibility - external or internal control over activity, reflecting the social, moral and legal attitude towards society, expressed in the implementation of accepted moral and legal norms and rules, one's duty.
obligatory(dutifulness) - the quality of the will, manifested in the precise, rigorous and systematic execution of the decisions made.
Initiative - the ability to make attempts to implement the ideas that have arisen in a person.
Independence- the ability to consciously make decisions and the ability not to be influenced by various factors that impede the achievement of the set goal, the ability to critically evaluate the advice and suggestions of other people, act on the basis of one's views and beliefs and at the same time make adjustments to one's actions based on the advice received.
Discipline - conscious subordination of one's behavior to social norms, the established order.
purposefulness - conscious and active orientation of the individual to achieve a certain result of activity.
Excerpt(self-control) - the ability to restrain one's feelings when necessary, to prevent impulsive and thoughtless actions, the ability to control oneself and force oneself to perform a planned action, and also to refrain from what one wants to do, but which seems unreasonable or wrong.
Courage - the ability to overcome fear and take justified risks in order to achieve the goal, despite the dangers to personal well-being.
Courage- a high degree of self-control, which is clearly manifested in difficult and dangerous circumstances, in the struggle with unusual difficulties. Courage is a complex quality. It implies courage, endurance and perseverance.
Determination- the absence of unnecessary hesitation and doubt in the struggle of motives, timely and quick decision-making. An example of the opposite quality - indecision - is the situation of "Buridan's donkey", which, not daring to eat one of the equal armfuls of hay, died of hunger.
persistence- the ability of a person to mobilize his capabilities for a long struggle with difficulties. Not to be confused with stubbornness and negativism.
Negativism- unmotivated, unreasonable tendency to act contrary to other people, to contradict them, although reasonable considerations do not give grounds for such actions.
Stubbornness - stubborn person always tries to insist on his own, despite the inexpediency of this action, is guided not by the arguments of reason, but by personal Desires, despite their failure.
Development
Studies by domestic psychologists have shown that already in the first year of life, voluntary movements begin to form, and from the second year of life, the child's behavior is determined not only by the current situation, but also by the imagined one (the first stage of development of the will). In two or three years, the regulatory function of speech develops. From the age of two or two and a half, children begin to act on the basis of the subordination of a motive (L.I. Bozhovich). The ability to overcome immediate desires, subjugate motives and establish the relationship of motive to goal is manifested only in the presence of external means, the role of which is most often the very presence of an adult or other children, as well as the corresponding objects, while the greatest motive force remains nevertheless for game motives. It is shown that already at the age of four, control over one's actions develops, and violation of the rules of behavior by other people is noticed from the age of three. Studies of volitional regulation of schoolchildren (T.I. Shulga) showed that:
The formation of the motivational and incentive link of volitional regulation in the age aspect is characterized by an increase in the strength of the motive and goals, independence, awareness and restructuring of the motivational sphere. These indicators are most pronounced in primary school age;
The formation of the executive level is characterized by the expansion with age (especially in adolescence) of the range of methods of self-government used, the predominance of self-developed ones among them. They become more flexible and adequate to the requirements of situations;
The evaluative-productive link increases with age in all spheres of life, and the results of self-change become more pronounced. The sensitive period for the formation of this link of volitional regulation is senior school age.
The development of volitional regulation is primarily associated with the formation of a rich motivational and semantic sphere of personality.
Violations
One of the most important violations of the volitional sphere is a violation of the structure of the hierarchy of motives. . Another violation is the formation of pathological needs and motives.
(B.V. Zeigarnik). These violations appear various symptoms: decrease in volitional processes (hypobulia) or excessive activity (hyperbulia). Symptoms of hypobulia can be very diverse. The most common violations of the will: apathy, abulia (anorexia, bulimia), a symptom of autism, hyperbulia.
Apathy(Greek apatheia - dispassion) - mental condition, manifested in the loss of interest, indifference to the environment, a drop in the activity of the psyche.
Abulia- violation of the will, partial or complete lack of desire and motivation for activity (anorexia, bulimia, etc.).
Anorexia- lack of appetite, suppression of the desire to eat.
bulimia- a pathological desire to eat constantly, often and a lot.
Hyperbulia- violation of behavior in the form of motor disinhibition (excitation) (impulsive, stereotypical actions, etc.).
autism a symptom is the loss by the patient of the need to communicate with others, the formation of pathological isolation, isolation, unsociableness.
Individual characteristics
People differ from each other: in willpower, in the form of manifestation of which, etc. A dependence of willpower on the type of nervous system has been established (the willpower of the streets with a strong nervous system is more developed). individual differences are also manifested in the degree of formation of the volitional qualities of the individual.
STUDY METHODS
experimental
As an example pilot study will we give a study of volitional effort in intellectual activity using the "Unsolvable Problems" technique. Preschool and toddler children school age It was proposed to collect three pictures. The first picture consisted of one object, divided into several (4-6) parts and was relatively easy to assemble. The second picture consisted of two objects - large and small (also divided into 4-6 parts); this picture was also assembled by the children easily and rather quickly, but some thought and reasoning were required to assemble it. Finally, the children were asked to assemble a picture, also consisting of two objects and divided into 4-6 parts, which had no solution - according to the design of the experiment, one of the parts was missing. The time for completing all three tasks was recorded, as well as the behavior of children and an explanation of the reasons for refusing to work when manipulating the third picture.
Diagnostic
To measure volitional effort in physical activity, the technique is used "Dynamometry" (I.I. Kuptsov).
To study the level of development of volitional qualities, the method is used "Expert Assessments" where the experts evaluate various characteristics of the subjects' actions (the duration of the task solution, the number of attempts, the concentration of efforts, the presence of fluctuations in the decision-making process).
Methodology For diagnostics of the level of subjective control (SC) and many others.
Will is one of the most complex concepts in psychology. It is considered both as a mental process and as an aspect of most other important mental processes and phenomena, and as a unique ability of a person to arbitrarily control his behavior.
Will- it is a person's conscious overcoming of difficulties on the way to the implementation of an action. Faced with obstacles, a person either refuses to act in the chosen direction, or “increases” efforts to overcome the barrier, that is, he performs a special action that goes beyond the boundaries of his original motives and goals; this special action consists in changing the very urge to act. A person intentionally attracts additional motives for action, in other words, builds a new motive. An important role in the construction of new motives is played by a person's imagination, foresight and ideal "playing" of certain possible consequences of activity.
Ultimately, the complexity of the concept of "will" is explained by the fact that it is very closely related to the concept of "consciousness", an extremely complex psychological phenomenon, and is one of its most important attributes. Being closely associated with motivational sphere personality, will is a special arbitrary form of human activity. It involves the initiation, stabilization and inhibition (inhibition) of a number of aspirations, impulses, desires, motives; organizes a system of actions in the direction of achieving conscious goals.
Three main functions volitional processes.
1. initiating, or incentive, function(directly related to motivational factors) is to force one or another action, behavior, activity to start, overcoming objective and subjective obstacles.
2. Stabilizing function associated with volitional efforts to maintain activity at the proper level in the event of external and internal interference of various kinds.
3. Inhibitory or inhibitory function consists in inhibiting other, often strong motives and desires, other behaviors that are not consistent with the main goals of activity (and behavior) at one time or another. A person is able to slow down the awakening of motives and the implementation of actions that contradict his idea of \u200b\u200bthe proper, is able to say “no!” motives, the exercise of which could jeopardize values of a higher order. Regulation of behavior would be impossible without inhibition.
Along with this, volitional actions also have three main features.
The first one is awareness freedom implementation of actions, a sense of fundamental "uncertainty" of one's own behavior.
The second is the obligatory objective determinism any, even seemingly extremely “free” action.
The third - in volitional action (behavior) the personality is manifested generally - as fully and explicitly as possible, since volitional regulation acts as the highest level of mental regulation.
Will as a conscious organization and self-regulation of activity, aimed at overcoming internal difficulties, it is, first of all, power over oneself, over one's feelings, actions. It is well known that different people this power has varying degrees of expression. Ordinary consciousness captures a huge spectrum individual characteristics will, differing in the intensity of their manifestations, characterized on one pole as strength, and on the other - as weakness of the will. The range of manifestations of weak will is as great as the characteristic qualities of a strong will. The extreme degree of weak will is beyond the norm of the psyche. These include, for example, abulia and apraxia.
Abulia - this is the lack of motivation for activity, arising on the basis of brain pathology, the inability, upon understanding the need to make a decision to act or execute it.
Apraxia - a complex violation of the purposefulness of actions caused by damage to the brain structures. If the damage to the nervous tissue is localized in the frontal lobes of the brain, apraxia occurs, which manifests itself in a violation of the voluntary regulation of movements and actions that do not obey a given program and, therefore, make it impossible to carry out an act of will.
Abulia and apraxia - relatively rare events, inherent in people with severe mental disorders. Weakness of mind that the teacher faces in daily work, is caused, as a rule, not by brain pathology, but by certain conditions of education. Correction of lack of will is possible, as a rule, only against the background of a change in the social situation of personality development.
The concept of will.
Will is a mental function, which consists in the ability of an individual to consciously control his psyche and actions in the decision-making process to achieve the goals.
Will is a conscious regulation by a person of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties in the performance of purposeful actions and deeds.
Any human activity is always accompanied by specific actions that can be divided into two large groups: involuntary (Involuntary action is a response, without a conscious goal. A conscious action is a set goal associated with an internal impulse, with a desire to perform it.)
Volitional actions, like all mental phenomena, are associated with the activity of the brain and, along with other aspects of the psyche, have a material basis in the form of nervous processes. The material basis of voluntary (conscious) movements is the activity of the so-called giant pyramidal cells located in one of the layers of the cerebral cortex in the region of the anterior central gyrus. Impulses to movement are born in these cells, and from here fibers originate, forming a massive bundle that goes into the depth brain, descends, passes inside the spinal cord and eventually reaches the muscles of the opposite side of the body (pyramidal path).
Any volitional action is determined by motives that must be retained throughout the entire execution of the movement or action. If this condition is not met, then the movement (action) being performed will be interrupted or replaced by others.
Most often in a person’s life, the will manifests itself in the following typical situations when:
It is necessary to make a choice between two or more equally attractive, but requiring opposite actions, thoughts, goals, feelings, attitudes, incompatible with each other; in spite of everything, it is necessary to purposefully move along the path to the intended goal; should refrain from executing the decision taken due to changed circumstances.
Will is a mental process of conscious and purposeful regulation by a person of his activity and behavior in order to achieve the desired goal. So, the will is one of the most important conditions for human activity. The will of a person has been developed in the process of its socio-historical development, in labor activity Living and working, people gradually learned how to make ponds for themselves definite purpose and consciously achieve its implementation. In the struggle for existence, overcoming difficulties, straining his strength or mastering himself, a person developed in himself various qualities of will. The more important were the tasks that people had to perform in life, and the more they understood them, the more actively they sought their solution . Volitional activity cannot be reduced to the activity of the organism and identified with it. Activity is also characteristic of animals. They, satisfying their biological needs, adapting to the conditions of life, have a long-term effect on the surrounding nature, but this happens without any intention to their bocca.
The will manifests itself in an effort, in an internal tension that a person overcomes, overcoming internal and external difficulties, striving to act or restraining himself.
Will is a deterministic process, a deterministic understanding of freedom is confirmed by physiological studies by I. M. Sechenov and I. P. Pavlov. reflex Will - the active side of reason and moral feeling I. P. Pavlov noted that the entire mechanism of volitional movement is a conditional, associative process, subject to all the described laws of higher nervous activity He came to the conclusion that voluntary actions that arise as a result of internal effort, zoom are affected by the fact that the motor area of the cerebral cortex is simultaneously a sensory area, like the visual, auditory, and auditory areas.
Mechanisms and functions of the will. The stimulating function is provided by human activity. Activity generates action due to the specifics internal states a person that arises at the moment of the action itself (a person who needs support during his speech calls on like-minded people to speak out; being in deep sadness, a person complains about everyone around him, etc.). Activity is characterized by transience and arbitrariness of the course of actions and behavior. If activity is a property of the will, then it is characterized by arbitrariness, i.e. predetermination of actions and behavior in relation to the goal. Such activity is not subject to actual impulses, it is characterized by the ability to rise above the level of the requirements of the situation (above situationality). One more feature of the stimulating function can be pointed out. If a person does not have an actual need to perform an action, but at the same time he is aware of the need to perform it, the will creates an auxiliary motivation, changing the meaning of the action (makes it more significant, causing experiences associated with the expected consequences of the action). The inhibitory function is manifested in the containment of unwanted manifestations of activity. This function most often acts in unity with the stimulating one. A person is able to inhibit the emergence of undesirable motives, the performance of actions, behavior that contradict ideas about the model, the standard, and the implementation of which may call into question or damage the authority of the individual. Volitional regulation of behavior would be impossible without the inhibitory function. Individual manifestations of human upbringing can be examples of inhibitory function. Yes, to take responsibility in a difficult case, knowing that an accomplice can “break down” in order to give him a chance to rise, withstand the condemnation of others, if the case that is being condemned will benefit in the future. Especially often the braking function is necessary in Everyday life. It may be a decision to hold back in a dispute of principle for a person; not give vent to aggression; bring an uninteresting but necessary task to an end; refrain from entertainment for the sake of classes, etc.
The will performs four functions.
1. Incentive and guiding to achieve the goal while overcoming difficulties. Volitional activity is characterized by over-situation, that is, going beyond the original goals, the requirements of the situation.
2. The inhibitory function of the will is manifested in the containment of unwanted activity, motives and actions that do not correspond to the worldview, ideals and beliefs of the individual.
3. Regulatory function is expressed in arbitrary, conscious regulation of actions, mental processes and behavior, in overcoming obstacles.
4. The developing function consists in the fact that volitional regulation is aimed at improving by the subject of his behavior, activities, at changing his own personality.
Volitional activity is connected with the balance of excitation and inhibition. With a weakening of the process of excitation, apathy occurs in a person, with a dulling of the process of inhibition, greater activity develops. The mechanism of volitional action functions on the basis of the first and second signal systems. On the basis of temporary connections between various centers of the cerebral cortex, a wide variety of associations and their systems are formed and fixed, which creates the conditions for purposeful behavior. The regulator of volitional activity is the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. In them, the result achieved at each given moment is compared with a previously compiled program. The function of regulation is performed by special pyramidal cells of the brain. When these cells are damaged, paralysis or awkwardness of movements occurs, skills are lost.
Will arises when a person is capable of reflecting his own desires, can somehow relate to them. The will is inextricably linked with the available plan of action. Through volitional action, a person plans to achieve the goal facing him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan.
The problem of self-regulation.
The problem of conscious self-regulation of both mental processes and activities in the domestic psychological science was designated in the 1980s and 1990s. The studies of regulatory mental processes are devoted to the works of B.G. Ananiev, P.K. Anokhin, A.V. Zaporozhets, V.P. Zinchenko and others. They described the general and special features of regulation, their integrative essence. The conceptual model of self-regulation of voluntary human activity was created by such prominent researchers as O.A. Konopkin, V.I. Morosanova, V.I. Stepansky. O.A. Konopkin introduces the concept of "conscious self-regulation" in order to describe the regularities of the flow of regulatory processes within subjective approach
On present stage development society needs to create such conditions for its mental development that would contribute to the comfortable life of every person. IN this case we are talking that due to the inability to control their own regulation of behavior and mental processes, many people turn out to be socially maladjusted, they do not know how to live in new conditions, which leads to emotional and mental breakdowns, as well as to suicide. This problem is especially acute for today's youth. Therefore, we can talk about the problem of self-regulation as a socially important problem.
The task of the will is to control our behavior, the conscious self-regulation of our activity, especially in cases where there are obstacles to a normal life.
At the personal level, will manifests itself in such properties as willpower, energy, perseverance, endurance, etc. They can be considered as primary, or basic, volitional qualities of a person. Such qualities determine behavior that is characterized by all or most of the properties described above. A strong-willed person is distinguished by decisiveness, courage, self-control, and self-confidence. Such qualities usually develop in ontogenesis somewhat later than the group of properties mentioned above. In life, they manifest themselves in unity with the character, so they can be considered not only as volitional, but also as characterological. Let's call these qualities secondary. Finally, there is a third group of qualities, which, reflecting the will of a person, are connected at the same time with his moral and value orientations. This is responsibility, discipline, adherence to principles, commitment. The same group, referred to as tertiary qualities, can include those in which the will of a person and his attitude to work simultaneously act: efficiency, initiative. Such personality traits are usually formed only by adolescence.
The will is involved in the regulation of almost all basic mental functions: sensations, perception, imagination, memory, thinking and speech. The development of these cognitive processes from the lowest to the highest means the acquisition by a person of volitional control over them. Another direction in the development of the will is manifested in the fact that a person consciously sets himself more and more difficult tasks and pursues more and more distant goals that require the application of significant volitional efforts for a sufficiently long time.
The development of will in children is closely correlated with the enrichment of their motivational and moral spheres. Therefore, to educate the will of the child in isolation from his general psychological development almost impossible. Otherwise, instead of will and perseverance as undoubtedly positive and valuable personal qualities their antipodes may arise and become fixed: stubbornness and rigidity. Games play a special role in the development of will in children in all of the above areas.
The will ensures the performance of two interrelated functions - incentive and inhibitory, and manifests itself in them.
The incentive function is provided by the activity of a person, which generates an action due to the specifics of the internal states of the subject, which are revealed at the moment of the action itself (for example: a person in need of obtaining the necessary information calls out to a friend, experiencing a state of irritation, allows himself to be rude to others, etc.).
In contrast to volitional behavior, which is characterized by unintentionality, activity is characterized by arbitrariness, i.e. the conditionality of the action by a consciously set goal. Activity may not be caused by the requirements of a momentary situation, the desire to adapt to it, to act within the boundaries of a given one. It is characterized by over-situation, i.e. going beyond the original goals, the ability of a person to rise above the level of the requirements of the situation, to set goals that are excessive in relation to the original task (such is “risk for the sake of risk”, a creative impulse, etc.).
According to V.A. Vannikov, the main psychological function of the will is to increase motivation and improve on this basis the conscious regulation of actions. The real mechanism for generating an additional motivation for action is a conscious change in the meaning of the action by the person performing it. The meaning of the action is usually associated with the struggle of motives and changes with certain, deliberate mental efforts.
The need for volitional action arises when an obstacle appears on the way to the implementation of motivated activity. The act of will is connected with its overcoming. Beforehand, however, it is necessary to realize, comprehend the essence of the problem that has arisen.
A volitional action is always associated with the consciousness of the purpose of the activity, its significance, with the subordination of the actions performed to this purpose. Sometimes there is an end to an activity that has already begun, and then the volitional meaning-forming function is associated with the process of performing the activity. In the third case, the goal may be to learn something, and strong-willed character acquire activities related to learning.
The energy and source of volitional actions is always, one way or another, connected with the actual needs of a person. Based on them, a person gives a conscious meaning to his arbitrary actions. In this plan volitional actions no less determined than any others, only they are associated with consciousness, hard work of thinking and overcoming difficulties.
Volitional regulation can be included in the activity at any of the stages of its implementation: the initiation of the activity, the choice of means and methods for its implementation, following the planned plan or deviating from it, monitoring the execution. The peculiarity of the inclusion of volitional regulation at the initial moment of the implementation of activity is that a person, consciously refusing some drives, motives and goals, prefers others and implements them in spite of momentary, immediate impulses. The will in choosing an action is manifested in the fact that, having consciously abandoned the usual way of solving a problem, the individual chooses a different, sometimes more difficult one, and tries not to deviate from it. Finally, the volitional regulation of control over the execution of an action consists in the fact that a person consciously forces himself to carefully check the correctness of the actions performed when there is almost no strength and desire to do this. Particular difficulties in terms of volitional regulation are presented for a person by such an activity, where problems of volitional control arise along the entire path of the activity, from the very beginning to the end.
A typical case of the inclusion of the will in the management of activity is the situation associated with the struggle of motives that are difficult to combine, each of which requires the performance of different actions at the same time. Then the need to give any goal a special meaning, and in this case, the participation of the will in the regulation of activity comes down to finding the appropriate meaning, the increased value of this activity. Otherwise, it may be necessary to find additional stimuli for fulfillment, bringing to a realization, and the consciousness and thinking of a person, being included in the volitional regulation of his behavior, are looking for additional stimuli in order to make one of the drives stronger, to give it more meaning in the current situation. Psychologically, this means an active search for connections between the goal and the ongoing activity with the highest spiritual values of a person, consciously attaching much more importance to them than they had at the beginning.
The following can be distinguished characteristics will:
- - endurance and perseverance of will, which are characterized by the fact that vigorous activity covers long periods of a person's life, striving to achieve the goal.
- - the fundamental consistency and constancy of the will, as opposed to inconstancy and inconsistency. The fundamental sequence lies in the fact that all actions of a person follow from a single guiding principle of his life, to which a person subordinates everything secondary and secondary.
- - critical will, opposing its easy suggestibility and a tendency to act thoughtlessly. This feature lies in the deep thoughtfulness and self-critical evaluation of all their actions. It is possible to persuade such a person to change the line of behavior taken by him only through reasonable argumentation.
- - decisiveness, which consists in the absence of unnecessary hesitation in the struggle of motives, in quick decision-making and bold implementation of them.
The will is characterized by the ability to subordinate one's personal, individual aspirations to the will of the collective, the will of the class to which the person belongs.