A person not only thinks, feels, but also acts accordingly. A person realizes conscious and purposeful regulation of activity with the help of will.
Will is the conscious ability and desire of a person to perform deliberate actions aimed at achieving a consciously set goal, and to consciously regulate their activities, controlling their behavior.
Will is the desire to choose the type of activity, to the internal efforts necessary for its implementation. Even the simplest labor activity requires willpower. It is a link between consciousness, on the one hand, and action, on the other.
Will is a person's ability to overcome obstacles and achieve a goal, it is a conscious self-regulation of one's behavior, this is the most difficult psychological process, which causes human activity.
Will is, first of all, power over oneself, over one's feelings and actions. It is necessary both when performing certain actions, and for refraining from undesirable actions.
Will must accompany all types of human activity in order for them to be effective. Where the effort of a person, the tension of the psyche and physical strength is required, the will necessarily comes into play. Volitional effort is a special state of mental tension, in which the physical, intellectual and moral forces of a person are mobilized. Each volitional effort begins with the realization of the goal and the manifestation of the desire to achieve it.
The will of a person is manifested in actions, for the implementation of which a person consciously regulates their strength, speed and other dynamic parameters. The level of development of the will determines how well a person is adapted to the activity that he performs. For act of will characteristic is the experience of "I must", "I must", awareness of the value characteristics of the purpose of the activity.
Will governs man. Depending on the degree of volitional effort a person expends in achieving a goal, one speaks of the strength and stamina of the will.
Volitional action is always performed on the basis of a specific goal and motive.
It includes three main points:
1) target selection;
2) drawing up a plan, that is, defining tasks, means and organizing the achievement of a goal;
3) performing the action itself.
Volitional action can be motivated by both the individual's own needs and the needs of society. The transition to volitional regulation of actions is necessary when insurmountable obstacles arise on the way to achieving the goal.
The main volitional qualities include the following: purposefulness, independence, determination, perseverance, endurance, impulsiveness, weak will, stubbornness and others.
Purposefulness is understood as the ability to subordinate one's behavior to a stable life purpose. Setting affordable goals that require significant effort tempers the will. People differ from each other in the degree of volitional activity:
Some are waiting for instructions on what to do and how;
Others themselves take the initiative and choose methods of action.
Autonomy of volitional activity is called
independence. This volitional quality is manifested in the ability to build one's behavior on one's own impulse, in accordance with one's own views and beliefs. Leading a team of independent people is not easy.
But it is even more difficult if there is a group of workers in the team with such negative qualities of will as suggestibility and negativism. They cannot subordinate their actions to the arguments of reason and act, blindly accepting or blindly rejecting other people's influences, advice, explanations. Both suggestibility and negativism are expressions of weak will.
Life constantly poses a lot of tasks for a person that require their solution. Choosing and making a decision is one of the links in the volitional process, and decisiveness is an important quality of a volitional person. An indecisive person constantly hesitates, because his decision is not analyzed enough, he is not completely sure of the correctness of the decision made.
For volitional action, the implementation of the decision is very important. People are not equally stubborn in overcoming difficulties, not everyone brings the decision to the end. The ability to bring the decision to the end, to achieve the goal, to overcome various external and internal difficulties on the way to the goal, is called perseverance in psychology.
In contrast to persistence, a person can show negative quality- stubbornness. Stubbornness manifests lack of will, the inability to force oneself to be guided by reasonable arguments, facts, and advice.
Important volitional qualities are endurance and self-control. By mastering himself, a person refrains from actions and manifestations of feelings that are recognized as undesirable, unnecessary or harmful in given conditions or at a given time. The opposite of endurance and self-control is impulsiveness.
The normal system of human behavior is based on the balance of excitatory and inhibitory processes (nervous processes of excitation and inhibition).
Philosophy, psychology, pedagogy and social practice confirm that the will of a person can be educated. The basis of the education of the will of a person is the education of his volitional qualities, which are acquired primarily by self-education. It requires not only knowledge, but also training.
A person himself must want to become strong-willed, and for this he must constantly train himself, his will. Methods of self-education of the will can be very diverse, but they all include the observance of the following levels:
one must begin by acquiring the habit of overcoming comparatively minor difficulties and obstacles;
any self-justification (self-deception) is extremely dangerous;
difficulties must be overcome in order to achieve great goals;
the decision made must be carried out to the end;
a separate goal must be divided into stages, the achievement of which creates conditions that bring closer to the goal;
observance of the regime of the day and life is an important condition for the formation of the will;
systematic exercise is a training not only of muscles, but also of will;
the success of the activity depends not only on volitional qualities, but also on the relevant skills;
self-hypnosis is important for educating the will.
The constant education of the will is important condition fulfillment of any professional activity, as well as the improvement of the individual to achieve the goal.
Volitional action can be realized in simpler and more complex forms.
In a simple volitional act, the impulse to act, directed towards a more or less clearly realized goal, almost immediately passes into action, not preceded by any complex and lengthy conscious process; the goal itself does not go beyond the immediate situation, its realization is achieved through habitual actions that are carried out almost automatically, as soon as the impulse is given.
For a complex volitional act in its most pronounced specific form, it is essential, first of all, that a complex conscious process mediating the action is wedged between the impulse and the action. The action is preceded by taking into account its consequences and awareness of its motives, making a decision, the emergence of an intention to carry it out, drawing up a plan for its implementation. Thus, the volitional act turns into a complex process, including a whole chain of different moments and a sequence of different stages or phases, while in a simple volitional act all these moments and phases do not necessarily have to be presented in any expanded form.
In a complex volitional action, 4 main stages, or phases, can be distinguished:
1) the emergence of motivation and preliminary goal setting; 2) the stage of discussion and the struggle of motives; 3) decision; 4) execution.
Traditional psychology, reflecting primarily the psychology of a reflective intellectual, at a crossroads, torn apart by doubts, by a struggle of motives, put forward precisely this “struggle of motives” and the more or less painful decision that followed it as the core of an act of will. The internal struggle, the conflict with one's own, as in Faust, split soul and the way out of it in the form of an internal decision is everything, and the fulfillment of this decision is nothing.
In contrast, other theories seek to completely exclude from volitional action the inner work of consciousness associated with choice, deliberation, and evaluation; to this end, they separate the motivation of the will from the act of will itself. As a result, a volitional action or even a volitional act turns into pure impulsivity. The absolutization of reflective consciousness is opposed to another extreme - impulsive effectiveness, completely devoid of conscious control.
In fact, every truly volitional action is electoral an act that includes conscious choice and decision. But this does not mean that the struggle of motives is its central part, its soul. From the very essence of volitional action, as an action aimed at achieving a goal, at realizing a plan, it follows that its main parts are the initial and final phases - a clear awareness of the goal and perseverance, firmness in achieving it. The basis of volitional action is purposeful, conscious action.
Recognition of the dominant significance of the initial and final phases of volitional action - the realization of the goal and its implementation - does not, however, exclude the existence of other phases, nor the fact that in the specific, diverse and changing conditions of reality, in one particular case or another, come to the fore and other phases of the act of will. All of them are therefore subject to analysis. A volitional act begins with the emergence of an impulse, expressed in aspiration. As soon as the goal to which it is directed is realized, the desire passes into desire; the arising of a desire presupposes a certain experience by means of which a person learns what object is capable of satisfying his need. One who does not know this cannot have desire. Desire is an objectified desire. The generation of desire therefore means the emergence or setting of a goal. Desire is a purposeful desire.
But the presence of a desire directed at one or another object as a goal is not yet a completed volitional act. If desire presupposes knowledge of the end, then it does not yet include thought about means, or even mental mastery of them. It is therefore not so much practical as contemplative and affective. You can also wish for something that you are not sure of the attainability of, although a firm knowledge of the absolute unattainability of the object of desire undoubtedly paralyzes, if not kills, desire.
Desire often opens wide scope for the imagination. Obedient to desire, the imagination decorates the desired object and in turn nourishes desire, which is the source of its activity. But this activity of the imagination, in which feeling and representation interact, can take the place of the actual realization of desire. Desire is wrapped in dreams instead of being translated into action. It comes close to wishing. Wanting is not the same as wanting.
Desire turns into a truly volitional act, which in psychology is usually denoted by the clumsy word “desire”, when the knowledge of the goal is combined with an attitude towards its realization, confidence in its achievability and a focus on mastering the appropriate means. Desire is a striving not for the object of desire in itself, but for mastering it, for achieving the goal. Desire exists where not only the goal itself is desirable, but also the action that leads to it.
No matter how different attraction, desire and wanting are from each other, each of them expresses aspiration - that internal contradictory state of lack, need, suffering, anxiety, and at the same time tension, which forms the initial impulse to action. In a number of cases, the impulse to action directed at a specific, more or less clearly conscious goal immediately entails action. One has only to imagine the goal in order to feel and know: yes, I want it! One has only to feel it in order to move on to action.
But sometimes the call to action and the setting of a goal are not immediately followed by action; it happens that before the action has taken place, there is doubt either about the given goal, or about the means that lead to its achievement; sometimes several competing goals appear almost simultaneously, the thought arises of the possible undesirable consequences of the behavior that leads to the achievement of the desired goal, and as a result, a delay is created. The situation is getting worse. Between impulse and action wedged reflection and the struggle of motives.
It is sometimes said that, unlike an impulsive, affective action, which is conditioned by the situation more than by the permanent, essential properties or attitudes of the personality, volitional action as a selective act, that is, the result of a choice made by the personality, is conditioned by the personality as a whole. This is correct in a certain sense. But it is no less correct that the act of will often contains a struggle, a contradiction, a split. A person has many different needs and interests, and some of them turn out to be incompatible. The person gets into a conflict. An internal struggle of motives flares up.
But even then, when the contradiction does not appear directly in the painful feeling of splitting, a conscious thinking being who has a desire to perform some action is usually inclined to subject it to a preliminary analysis.
First of all, there naturally arises the need to take into account the consequences that the fulfillment of a desire may entail. Here, the intellectual process is included in the volitional process. It transforms a volitional act into an action mediated by thought. Accounting for the consequences of the proposed action very often reveals that a desire generated by one need or a certain interest, in a particular situation, turns out to be feasible only at the expense of another desire; an action that is desirable in itself can, under certain conditions, lead to undesirable consequences.
Delaying action for discussion is as essential to an act of will as are impulses to it. In the volitional act, other, competing, impulses must be delayed. The impulse leading to action must also undergo a temporary delay in order for the action to be an act of will, and not an impulsive discharge. A volitional act is not an abstract activity, but an activity that includes self-restraint. Willpower lies not only in the ability to fulfill one's desires, but also in the ability to suppress some of them, subordinating some of them to others and any of them to tasks and goals to which personal desires must be subordinated. Will at its highest levels is not a simple collection of desires, but a certain organization of them. It implies, further, the ability to regulate one's behavior on the basis of general principles, beliefs, ideas. The will therefore requires self-control, the ability to control oneself and dominate one's desires, and not just to serve them.
Before you act, you need to make a choice, you need to make a decision. The choice requires evaluation. If the emergence of an impulse in the form of desire preliminarily puts forward a certain goal, then the final setting of the goal - sometimes not at all coinciding with the original one - is accomplished as a result of a decision.
When making a decision, a person feels that the further course of events depends on him. Awareness of the consequences of one's action and the dependence of what happens on one's own decision gives rise to a sense of responsibility specific to an act of will.
Decision making can proceed in different ways.
1. Sometimes it does not stand out in consciousness as a special phase at all: the volitional act is performed without a special decision. This happens in those cases when the impulse that has arisen in a person does not meet any internal opposition, and the realization of the goal corresponding to this impulse does not meet any external obstacles. Under such conditions, it is enough to imagine the goal and realize its desirability for action to follow. The entire volitional process - from the initial impulse and the emergence of the goal to its implementation - is so drawn into one undifferentiated unity that the decision does not appear in it as a special act;
decision-making is wrapped up in the recognition of the goal. In those volitional acts in which the emergence of an impulse to action is followed by some sort of complex struggle of motives, or discussion and action are delayed, the decision stands out as a special moment.
2. Sometimes the solution seems to come by itself, being complete resolution the conflict that caused the conflict of motives. Some kind of internal work has taken place, something has moved, a lot has moved - and everything is presented in a new light: I came to a decision not because I consider it necessary to take this particular decision, but because no other is possible. In the light of the new thoughts that I, reflecting on the decision, realized, under the influence of new feelings that flooded me during this time, what had recently seemed so important suddenly seemed insignificant, and what not so long ago seemed desirable and expensive, suddenly lost its appeal. Everything has been resolved, and it is no longer necessary to make a decision so much as to state it.
3. Finally, it happens that until the very end and at the very moment of making a decision, each of the motives still retains its strength, not a single possibility has disappeared by itself, and a decision in favor of one motive is taken not because the effective force of the others has been exhausted, because other motives have lost their appeal, but because the need or expediency to sacrifice all this is realized. In such a case, when the conflict, concluded in the struggle of motives, did not receive permissions, which would exhaust it, is especially recognized and distinguished solution, as a special act that subordinates everything else to one accepted goal.
The decision itself, and then the execution that follows it, in such a case is usually accompanied by a pronounced sense of effort. In this feeling associated with internal struggle, some are inclined to see a special moment of the volitional act. However, not every decision and choice of goal should be accompanied by a sense of effort. The presence of effort testifies not so much to the strength of the volitional act as to the opposition that this force meets. We usually feel a sense of effort only when our decision does not give a real solution to the struggle of motives, when the victory of one motive means only the subjugation of the others. When other motives are not exhausted, not outlived, but only defeated and, defeated, deprived of access to action, continue to live and attract, we inevitably experience a sense of effort when making our decision.
Since for living people who are not alien to internal contradictions, such conflict situations are not only possible, but sometimes inevitable, it is very important that a person be capable of effort. This is all the more important because such an effort is for the most part necessary in cases of volitional decisions, which should ensure the triumph of more abstract principled motives over instincts that have taken root in us.
However, it is still wrong to see in the effort associated with the decision, the main feature of the act of will. When a person is completely in his decision and all his aspirations are merged in a complete, undivided unity, he does not experience any effort in making a decision, and yet there can be a special invincible force in this act of will.<...>
It cannot but affect the execution of the decision. Here, however, in the struggle with real difficulties, the ability to volitional effort acquires significant significance as the most important component or manifestation of the will.
The three cases we have noted differ from each other in the extent to which the decision stands out in the volitional process as a special act. In the first of the cases we have listed, the decision is directly merged with the adoption of the goal; in the second, it has not yet separated from the struggle of motives, being only its natural end, and in the third, it has separated from this latter and opposes it as a special act endowed with the maximum degree of activity and awareness. However, in a certain sense, every volitional act involves a decision, since it presupposes the adoption of a certain goal and opens access to the corresponding desire to the motor sphere, to the action aimed at its implementation.
The “technique” of the solution itself, the processes or operations through which it is arrived at, are different under different conditions.
In cases where the main difficulty lies in knowing how to proceed, it is enough to comprehend the situation and bring the particular case under some general category to decide. As soon as a newly presented case is included in some familiar rubric, it is already known what to do with it. This is how, first of all, more or less ordinary questions are solved, especially by rather experienced and not very impulsive people.
In very impulsive natures, circumstances can play a significant role in decision making. Some impulsive, passionate and self-assured natures sometimes seem to deliberately surrender themselves to the power of circumstances, in full confidence that the right moment will bring the right decision.
Indecisive people, especially when the situation is difficult, realizing this, sometimes deliberately delay the decision, expecting that a change in the situation will itself bring the desired result or make the decision easier, forcing it to be accepted.
Sometimes, in difficult cases, people make their decision easier by accepting it, as it were, conditionally, timing the execution to certain circumstances that do not depend on their decision, in the presence of which it comes into force. So, being unable to immediately break away from a fascinating book and take on a boring job, a person decides to do this as soon as the clock strikes such and such an hour. The final decision, or at least its execution, is shifted to the circumstances, the adoption of a decision - as if conditional - is facilitated by this. Thus, decision-making tactics can be diverse and quite complex.
Making a decision is not the same as implementing it. The decision must be followed by execution. Without this last link, the act of will is not completed.
The ascent to the highest levels of volitional activity is characterized primarily by the fact that execution turns into a more or less complex, lengthy process. The complication of this last final stage of the act of will is characteristic of higher levels volitional action, which sets itself more and more complex, distant and lofty, more and more difficult to achieve goals.
In decision, what is not yet and what should be is opposed to what is. The execution of the decision requires a change in reality. Man's desires are not fulfilled by themselves. Ideas and ideals do not possess the magical power of self-realization. They become a reality only when behind them is the effective strength of people devoted to them, able to overcome difficulties. Their implementation faces real obstacles that need to be really overcome. When the struggle of motives is over and the decision has been made, then only the real struggle begins - the struggle for the fulfillment of the decision, for the fulfillment of desire, for changing reality, for subordinating it to the human will, for the realization in it of the ideas and ideals of man, and in this struggle aimed at to change reality, is the main
In the traditional interpretation of will, the subject of psychological analysis is what happens in the subject before the beginning of volitional action as such. The researcher's attention was focused on internal experiences - the struggle of motives, decisions, etc., preceding the action, as if where the action begins, the sphere of psychology ends; for this latter, it is as if there is an inactive, only experiencing person.
In cases where the problem of action did not fall completely out of the field of view of psychologists, action was only externally associated with the psyche or consciousness, as is the case in the theory of the ideomotor act by W. James. According to this theory, every idea tends to automatically turn into action. In this case, again, the action itself is considered as an automatic motor reaction or discharge caused by an ideological "irritant". It is connected with the conscious process that precedes it, but does not seem to include it itself. Meanwhile, in reality, the problem of volitional action is not reduced only to the correlation of ideas, ideas, consciousness, and motor reactions of the body. Volitional action contains the relation - real and ideal - of the subject to the object, of the person to the object that acts as a goal, to the reality in which this goal must be realized. This relation is really represented in the volitional action itself, which unfolds as a more or less complex process, the psychic side of which must be studied.
Any volitional action presupposes as a starting point a state that develops as a result of the more or less lengthy and complex internal work that precedes it and which could be characterized as a state of readiness, internal mobilization. Sometimes a person's transition to action is carried out with the necessity of a natural process, and the action grows rapidly, like a stormy stream from snowy peaks; sometimes, despite the fact that the decision has already been made, you still need to somehow get together in order to move from the decision to execution.
The action itself as a performance proceeds in different ways, depending on the complexity of the task and the attitude of the acting person towards it. As, due to the complexity of the task, the remoteness of the goal, etc., the execution of the solution in action is stretched for a more or less long time, the solution is separated intention.
Any volitional action is an intentional or intentional action in the broad sense of the word, since in a volitional action the result is the subject's goal and is thus included in his intentions. However, a volitional, i.e. purposeful and consciously regulated, action is possible, in which intention in the specific sense of the word is not singled out as a special moment: in this sense there are unintentional volitional actions, i.e. actions that, being volitional, do not preceded by a special intention. This happens when a decision goes directly into execution due to the fact that the corresponding action is easy, habitual, etc. But in somewhat difficult situations, when the implementation of the goal requires more or less lengthy, complex, unusual actions, when the execution of the decision is difficult or due to some reason must be delayed, the intention clearly appears as a special moment. Intention is the internal preparation for delayed or hindered action. A person is armed with good and more or less firm intentions when he foresees difficulties in carrying out his decision. The intention is, in essence, nothing more than the direction fixed by the decision to achieve the goal. Therefore, although it does not necessarily have to appear in every volitional action as a special, consciously singled out moment in it, it is nevertheless essential, especially for higher forms of volitional action.
An intention can be more or less general in nature, when it acts only as an intention to achieve a known goal or fulfill a certain desire, without fixing specific ways of realizing it. The general intention aimed at the realization of the final goal extends to the entire chain of actions leading to it and determines the general readiness to perform a number of different particular actions in relation to various situations that arise in the course of the action.
The presence of a general intention to realize some complex distant goal does not exclude the possibility of subordinate intentions specifically directed to one or another particular action that serves to achieve this goal, but it sometimes makes them redundant. Within a complex volitional act, in which intention regulates execution, such simple volitional actions are possible as components that are not preceded by a special intention. Therefore, considering each partial volitional action by itself, we can state the presence of volitional actions that are not intentional.
On the other hand, the very presence of intention determines in some cases the automatic nature of the performance of the action. The formation of an intention, i.e., the transition of a goal into an intention when making a decision, removes the need to realize the goal when performing an action.
In a particularly striking form, the automatism of some intentional actions is manifested in those cases when the intention is of a special nature and coincides with a certain action for predetermined circumstances. So, leaving the house with the intention of dropping a letter written by me into the mailbox, I can, seeing the box along the way, fulfill my intention as if automatically. Thus, considering a separate action without connection with the complex volitional process of which it is included, we can state the presence of intentional actions that are not consciously volitional, but automatic.
Thus, a scheme that would include only two categories of actions: 1) purposeful, consciously regulated, that is, volitional and intentional, and 2) involuntary and unintentional, such a scheme seems too simplified. Reality is more contradictory and more complex. It seems that there are also found in it: 3) volitional and unintentional actions, and also 4) intentional and not volitional, but automatic actions.
Different correlations of intention and conscious volitional action are ultimately due to differences in the very structure of activity: a partial action, which for the subject turns into only a way of carrying out a more general action, is not preceded by a special intention; when, however, a partial action, which is a link in the chain of actions aimed at common goal, stands out for the subject in a relatively independent act, it, in order to be intentional, presupposes a specially directed intention that is not covered by a general intention related to the implementation of a common goal.
In a complex volitional action, sometimes the intention, even the most sincere and best, is not enough to fulfill the decision. Before embarking on the realization of a distant goal that requires a complex series of actions, it is necessary to outline the path leading to it, and the means suitable for achieving it - to draw up for yourself plan actions.
At the same time, the path to the final goal is divided into a number of stages. As a result, in addition to the final goal, a number of subordinate goals appear, and what is a means becomes itself an end at a certain stage. Psychologically, the possibility is not ruled out that such a subordinate end-means may temporarily become an end in itself for the subject. In a complex activity consisting of a chain of actions, a complex dialectic unfolds between the goal and the means: the means becomes the goal, and the goal becomes the means.
The plan is more or less schematic. Some people, starting to implement the decision made, strive to foresee everything and plan each step as detailed as possible; others are limited only to the most general scheme, outlining only the main stages and key points. Usually, a plan of immediate actions is developed in more detail, further ones are outlined more schematically or more vaguely.
Depending on the part played in the execution of the plan, the will is more or less flexible. With some people, once adopted, the plan so dominates the will that it deprives it of any flexibility. The plan for them turns into a frozen, lifeless scheme that remains unchanged with any change in circumstances. A will that does not deviate in anything from a plan drawn up in advance, blind to the specific, changing conditions for its implementation, is a dull, not a strong will. A person with a strong but flexible will, without giving up his final goals, will not stop, however, before introducing into the preliminary plan of action all the changes that, due to newly revealed circumstances, will be necessary to achieve the goal.
When the ultimate goal does not at all determine the nature and mode of action, instead of a single system of actions aimed at the goal, one can easily get a simple row of unrelated actions with each other, the sequence of which is completely dependent on the circumstances. In this case, the end result of the actions may not coincide with the original goal at all.
Unplannedness calls into question the achievement of the goal towards which the volitional action is directed. Volitional action in its highest forms must be planned action.
Volitional action is, as a result, a conscious, purposeful action, by means of which a person systematically accomplishes the goal facing him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan. Volitional action is a specifically human action by which a person consciously changes the world.
Will and cognition, practical and theoretical human activity, relying on the unity of the subjective and the objective, the ideal and the material, each in its own way resolve the internal contradiction between them. Overcoming the one-sided subjectivity of the idea, knowledge seeks to make it adequate to objective reality. Overcoming the one-sided objectivity of the latter, practically denying its imaginary absolute rationality, the will strives to make objective reality adequate to the idea.
Since a volitional act is a conscious action aimed at achieving a goal, the acting subject evaluates the result that the action led to, comparing it with the goal to which it was directed. He states its success or failure and more or less intensely and emotionally experiences it as his success or failure.
Volitional processes are complex processes. Since the act of will comes from motives, from needs, it has a more or less pronounced emotional character. Since the volitional act involves conscious regulation, foreseeing the results of one's actions, taking into account the consequences of one's actions, finding appropriate means, deliberation, weighing, it includes more or less complex intellectual processes. In volitional processes, emotional and intellectual moments are presented in a specific synthesis; affect in them appears under the control of the intellect.
Will as a person's ability to self-determination and self-regulation makes him free from external circumstances. The will makes a person largely unpredictable, irreducible to the simple arithmetic of acting motives. It introduces a truly subjective dimension into a person's life.
Will is a mental function that literally permeates all aspects of human life. It sets orderliness, purposefulness and consciousness human life and activities. “Volitional action is a conscious, purposeful action by means of which a person accomplishes his goal, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan,” writes S.L. Rubinstein. Will is, of course, highest level regulation of the psyche in relation to the levels of motivation, emotions and attention.
A volitional action is determined by the following options for the conditions for its implementation:
The choice of motives and goals in their conflict (selective function);
Compensation for the lack of motivation for action in the absence of its sufficient motivation (initiating function);
Weakening of excessive motivation when the action is undesirable (inhibitory function);
Maintaining the selected level of action performance in the presence of interference (stabilizing function);
Arbitrary regulation of external and domestic action and mental processes.
The ability to perform volitional actions (actions) is formed as the personality develops and is embodied in stable personal qualities: purposefulness, perseverance, endurance, determination, initiative, independence, organization, discipline, courage, etc. A weak-willed personality is characterized by indecision, suggestibility, weak will, stubbornness . Stubbornness is often confused with true willpower.
Will as activity
As the main attribute of a volitional act, three main characteristics can be distinguished. First, in the act of will, the objectification of the individual I and individual behavior takes place. In a volitional act, the subject, as it were, “falls out” of the stream of being and evaluates himself and the motives of his activity from the outside. For example, you must admit your views are wrong, although you, of course, really do not want to do this. In order to internally agree with the recognition of one's mistake, it is necessary to subjectively oppose oneself and one's activity, to distance oneself for some time from the usual merged coexistence of subject and activity.
In this sense, one can speak of an act of will as a completely special state of consciousness. Secondly, the will is always perspective in its essence, it is directed to the future. When performing a volitional act, a person does not think about his position in currently, but about what it will become in the future, if he does or does not do something.
Thirdly, will is experienced as an activity of the Self. For example, a person feels thirsty. He gets up, takes a decanter of water, pours and drinks. In this type of behavior, there are no attributes of an act of will: there is neither a subjective separation of the subject and the situation, nor any pronounced orientation to the future, nor the activity of the subject. In other words, in normal (impulsive) behavior, the need itself is experienced as its source rather than the active ego. Volitional behavior, on the other hand, is never the realization of an actual impulse and, consequently, it borrows the energy necessary for the realization of activity from another source. What is this source? This source is a person's personality.
Will as a function of the hierarchy of motives
A.N. Leontiev believes that volitional action is the process of victory of openly social and ideal motives in the individual system of the hierarchy of motives over object-subject and visual ones. In an insufficiently mature personality or in a situation of an extremely strong action of a biological motive, the regulatory role will pass to someone else's will - an order, or will pass into the external plane of self-command.
Now let's turn to the second component of the original thesis about the conditions for the flow of a volitional act. For example, you need to get a small child to eat porridge. Which would be more effective: to promise him that he will get a delicious cake after he eats porridge (the ideal form of the motive), or to put a coveted cake in front of him? The answer is obvious. In the first case, the child will instantly swallow an unloved dish, and in the second, it will burst into tears.
That is, in the case of a conflict of motives, the method of subordinating them as successive stages of activity and presenting one of them in an ideal (imaginary) plan is quite effective. With the simultaneous presence of both porridge and cake, a strong-willed effort should be applied much more. Thus, the volitional act, which is, in fact, the result of the struggle of competing motives, unfolds in the direction of actualizing the social in origin and the ideal in form of a motive to the detriment of the biological and visual.
The structure of the act of will
S.L. Rubinstein distinguishes four stages of an act of will.
Emergence of motivation and preliminary goal setting. Subjectively, this stage is experienced as a desire to do something.
The stage of discussion and struggle of motives.
Solution. The decision making process can be different. In the first case (when there is no "struggle of motives") it proceeds as if asymptomatically: setting a goal conditionally coincides with making a decision. As S.L. Rubinstein: “One has only to imagine the goal in order to feel and know: yes, I want it! One has only to feel it in order to move on to action. In the second case, if the motives are different in significance, the solution comes as a complete and final resolution of the conflict that caused the struggle of motives. In the third case (here the motives are almost equal in importance and intensity), the solution comes as a violent removal of the still raging struggle of motives. The act of making a decision is characterized by a kind of subjective experience. The person feels that the further course of events depends on him. “Awareness of the consequences of a future act and the dependence of what will happen on one’s own decision gives rise to a sense of responsibility specific to a conscious volitional act.”
Performance.
Cognitive components of a volitional act
V.A. Ivannikov considers volitional regulation as an arbitrary change (strengthening or weakening) of the impulse to act, consciously accepted by necessity (external or internal) and performed by a person according to his own decision. The need for such a change arises, as already noted, with a lack of motivation corresponding to the action taken. What is the person doing about it? How does he achieve the necessary change of motivation? The formation of an impulse to volitional action is achieved through the transformation or creation of an additional meaning of the action. That is, the action after the completion of the act of will is carried out not only due to the initial (insufficient) motive, in accordance with which the decision was made to implement it, but also due to other motives.
In the study of A.V. Zaporozhets, it was shown that depending on what meaning the task has for the subject, the level of its performance changes dramatically. Three groups of subjects were asked to lift and lower a fairly heavy load. The subjects of the first group were not told the meaning of the task. The subjects in the second group were told its goal, i.e. they were asked to lift the load as many times as possible in order to set a personal best. The subjects of the third group were asked to imagine a situation where they did not just lift a load, but generated electricity with the power of their muscles in order to turn on the light in the city. It's easy to guess that highest score was obtained from the members of the latter group.
Changing the meaning of an action is possible through changing the position of the subject. So, in the work of A. I. Lipkina, lagging students were instructed to patronize schoolchildren lower grades. A change in position from a “student” to a “teacher, mentor” led to a change in the very meaning of learning and, as a result, to an increase in perseverance in mastering curriculum. The meaning of an action can also be changed by anticipating the consequences of an action. P. V. Simonov, the author of the information theory of emotions discussed above, cited a case from his life to illustrate this mechanism. When he did not have the courage to jump with a parachute, he thought of his comrade, who had not dared to jump the day before. Putting himself in his place and imagining how ashamed he was to look his friends in the eyes, Simonov jumped with a parachute.
Another mechanism for changing the meaning of the accepted action is to add a new meaning to the existing one. For example, not only "run 2 kilometers", but also "count all the trees in the park along the way."
Giving additional meaning to the accepted action can be carried out by the methods of "mythological thinking". Then an insufficiently motivated action can turn into a symbolic act. For example, a student may think that if she prepares well for a seminar, a young man she likes will invite her to the cinema. The last of the common options for transforming meaning is linking an action with new motives that are not typical for it (using the technique of self-stimulation). For example, a woman who has decided to go on a diet can strengthen her will by telling herself, "If I last a week, I'll buy myself a new dress." The hypothesis of V. A. Ivannikov can be well illustrated with the help of the famous parable about the construction of Chartres Cathedral. When three people, each of whom was pushing a cart loaded with stones, were asked, “What are you doing?”, one answered: “I am carrying stones,” the other: “I am earning money to feed my family,” and the third said: “I am building a temple ". It is obvious which of them pushed his cart with more enthusiasm and whose behavior was more strong-willed.
10) The problem of personality in psychology. driving forces and conditions for personal development. Theories of personality. Man is the most incomprehensible phenomenon of all that exists in the world and the most interesting subject for himself. He appears to be a multilateral, multidimensional and complexly organized being. Understanding the essence of human subjectivity is possible only from the standpoint of a holistic, systematic and historical-evolutionary approach. IN domestic psychology Traditionally, three main conceptual categories have been established, reflecting the three aspects of human existence: "individual", "personality", "individuality". Such a distinction was made most consistently in the works of A.N. Leontiev. Man as an individual appears in his natural, biological characteristics, i.e. as a material, natural, bodily being in its integrity and indivisibility. The knowledge of a person as an individual involves consideration of the natural foundations of his life, his psychology.
Man as an individual- this is a natural creature that has so-called organic needs: food, warmth, rest, etc. The form, structure, functioning of the human body is a continuation of the evolutionary series; it is in many ways similar to the organism of higher primates. At the same time, man is qualitatively different from all other living beings. N.A. Berdyaev, a Russian religious philosopher, wrote: “Man is a fundamental novelty in nature. The human body is a cultural body, it is spiritualized and subordinated to the highest goals of man.
Even human organic needs are fundamentally different from the needs of animals: they are satisfied by other objects, in other ways, they are culturally conditioned. The fundamental difference between a person is a free attitude to the experiences of organic needs. With the help of the will, a person can block the feeling of hunger and thirst, overcome the feeling of fear and pain, if this is necessary to achieve personally significant goals. At the heart of the concept of "individual", according to A.N. Leontiev, lies the fact of the indivisibility, integrity and peculiarities of each person, which arise already at the early stages of the development of life. "The individual is born."
Personality- one of the basic categories psychological science and one of the most widely used concepts. Traditionally, in psychology, this concept includes ideas about the most developed level of human subjectivity. The reality that is described by the term "personality" is already manifested in etymology. The word "personality" (persona) originally denoted the mask worn by an actor in the ancient Greek theater. Gradually, the concept of personality was filled with more and more diversity. semantic meanings, shades and range of which are to a certain extent specific to each particular language. In Russian, the word “personality” is close to the word “personality”, which, according to V.I.
Thus, in the meaning of the word “personality”, two main meanings can be distinguished.
The first, most obvious meaning - discrepancy between a person's own characteristics and the content of the role he performs.
Second - the social typicality of the role being performed, its openness to other people.
Some general points:
personality- this is a special quality or characteristic of a person, which is acquired by an individual in society, in the totality of those social relations in nature, in which he is included. If an individual is born, then a person becomes;
personality characterizes a person in terms of his public relations and relationships, i.e. interconnected with other people. A.N.Leontiev called the personality "supersensible formation", because. these connections and relationships with other people constitute a special reality, inaccessible to direct perception. Consequently, the concept of personality in psychology denotes a special way of human existence - his existence as a member of society, as a representative of a certain social group;
essence of personality is the ability of a person to act freely, independently and responsibly. Personal behavior is behavior of one's own free choice;
personality- this is not a quality formed once and for all, but a constant development.
Individuality- the highest level of human integration in relation to the individual and personal levels. Individuality simultaneously captures the originality and uniqueness of a person as an individual and as a person. Personality development is life path person.
The driving forces of personality development are contradictions:
general (universal) contradictions -between needs human (material and spiritual) and opportunities to meet them; as well as contradictions that manifest themselves in the imbalance between organism and environment, which leads to a change in behavior, a new adaptation of the body;
individual contradictions- contradictions characteristic of a single person;
internal contradictions arise on the basis of ``disagreement with oneself'" and are expressed in the individual motives of a person, one of the main internal contradictions- discrepancy between emerging needs and opportunities to meet them(for example, between the desire of high school students to participate in social and production processes and real level the development of their intellect, social maturity, that is, contradictions are typical: ``I want-I can'', ``I want-I must'', ``I know-I don't know'', etc.);
external contradictions stimulated by external forces, human relations with other people, society, nature (for example, between human capabilities and society's requirements).
2.10. Volitional processes
Volitional processes are a person's conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles, with the mobilization of all his forces to achieve the goals. A person uses his will when making decisions, when choosing a goal, when taking actions to overcome obstacles on the way to the goal.
Volitional processes are simple and complex. The simple ones are those that unshakably lead a person to the intended goal, and decision-making occurs without a struggle of motives. In complex volitional processes, the following stages are distinguished:
awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it;
awareness of the possibilities to achieve it;
the emergence of motives associated with the achievement of the goal;
the struggle of motives and the choice of the possibility of achievement;
deciding on possible actions;
implementation of the decision;
Along with volitional actions, a person often performs involuntary actions (automatic and instinctive), which are performed without control from the side of consciousness and do not require the application of volitional efforts.
Depending on the nature of the course of volitional processes, the following volitional qualities of a person's personality are distinguished:
purposefulness;
self-control;
independence;
determination;
persistence;
energy;
initiative;
performance.
Topic 3. Mental states
3.1 Classification of mental states
A mental state is a relatively stable level of mental life at a given time. In terms of their dynamism, mental states occupy an intermediate place between mental processes and mental properties.
Mental states (elevation, euphoria, alienation, fatigue, cheerfulness, apathy, activity, aggression, passivity, etc.) affect mental processes, accelerating or slowing down their course, and mental states act as the basis for the formation of mental properties or personality traits.
At the same time, the psyche is one and the division of mental phenomena into mental processes, states and properties is purely conditional. For example, such mental phenomena as happiness, love, stress, etc., some psychologists refer to mental (emotional) processes, others - to mental states.
Each person constantly experiences various mental states.<^Три одних состояниях наша деятельность протекает легко и продуктивно, при других - трудно и не вполне эффективно.
Mental states depend on the environment, physiological factors, time, verbal influence and other conditions.
Mental states are classified:
Depending on the duration: short-term and long-term.
Depending on the influence on the behavior and activity of the individual: sthenic (increasing activity) and asthenic (decreasing activity).
Depending on the degree of awareness: states more or less aware of a person.
3.2. Deprivation, depression, frustration, aggression
Mental states of each person are individual.
However, it is always possible to distinguish positive and negative mental states of different people. An example of positive states is mental states of happiness, love, etc., negative ones are anxiety, deprivation, frustration, depression, aggression, etc.
Deprivation is a state of experiencing relative deprivation, generated by a discrepancy between what a person has and what, in his opinion, he should have. A person is in a state of deprivation if he does not have what others own (or what he owned in the past), if he longs for it and considers it possible to have. For example, the condition of children deprived of close relationships with their parents, especially with their mother. Deprivation is often accompanied by low mood, depression, apathy, which can be replaced by euphoria and irritability for a short time.
Depression is a state of mental depression, melancholy, despair. At the same time, drives, motives, volitional activity are sharply reduced. Characteristic are thoughts about one's own responsibility for a variety of unpleasant, difficult events that occurred in the life of a person or his relatives. Feelings of guilt for the events of the past and a sense of helplessness in the face of life's difficulties are combined with a sense of hopelessness. Self-esteem is drastically reduced. Changed is the perception of time, which flows painfully long.
Behavior in a state of depression is characterized by slowness, lack of initiative, and fatigue; All this leads to a sharp drop in productivity. In severe, prolonged states of depression, suicide attempts are possible.
Apathy is a state of lethargy, indifference to the environment, lack of desire for activity.
Euphoria is an inadequately elevated cheerful mood, a state of complacency and carelessness that does not correspond to objective circumstances.
Frustration is a mental state that occurs in response to the appearance of objectively and subjectively insurmountable obstacles to meeting needs, achieving goals, and solving problems. Frustration is the collapse of hopes, the experience of failure. Emotionally, it can be expressed in anger, annoyance, despair, guilt. Frustration creates internal conditions for apathy, depression and aggression.
Aggression - is launched and supported by emotions that are part of the hostility complex (anger, disgust, contempt). In a state of aggression, a person is ready to harm another, insult, defeat, kill. For example, sexual aggression can manifest itself in sexual rudeness, rape, bullying and murder (sex homicidal maniacs).
Depending on the degree of complexity, on the obstacles to be overcome, three levels of volitional self-regulation are distinguished, which correspond to: a simple volitional act, a complex volitional act and a particularly significant volitional act.
IN simple act of will two stages are established: an incitement to action aimed at a more or less clearly conscious goal and a direct (often habitual) action, carried out immediately, as soon as the impulse is given. A simple volitional act is not complicated by the struggle of motives, does not cause internal reflections and contradictions.
For complex act of will First of all, what is essential is that between the impulse and the action, a complex mediating action is wedged in. conscious process. The action is preceded by taking into account its consequences and awareness of its motives, making a decision, the emergence of an intention to carry it out, drawing up a plan for its implementation. Thus, the volitional act turns into a complex process, including a whole chain of different moments and a sequence of different stages or phases, while in a simple volitional act all these moments and phases do not necessarily have to be presented in any expanded form.
A complex volitional act goes through several stages: the emergence of an impulse and the preliminary setting of a goal; stage of discussion and struggle of motives; decision-making; execution; analysis of the results of the action.
Stage 1 - the emergence of motivation and preliminary goal setting. Every truly volitional action is electoral an act that includes conscious choice and decision. Its main parts are the initial and final phases - a clear awareness of the goal and perseverance, firmness in achieving it. The basis of volitional action is purposeful, conscious action.
A volitional act begins with the emergence of an impulse, expressed in aspiration. As soon as the goal to which it is directed is realized, the aspiration turns into desire. The emergence of a desire presupposes a certain experience by means of which a person learns what object is capable of satisfying his need. One who does not know this cannot have desire. Desire is an objectified desire. The generation of desire therefore means the emergence or setting of a goal. Desire is a purposeful desire.
Desire often opens wide scope for the imagination. Subject to desire, the imagination decorates the desired object, and by this, in turn, nourishes desire, which is the source of its activity. But this activity of the imagination, in which feeling and representation interact, can take the place of the actual realization of desire. Desire is wrapped in dreams, instead of being translated into action, it approaches the desire. Wanting is not the same as wanting.
According to S.L. Rubinshtein, desire turns into a truly volitional act, which in psychology is usually denoted by the clumsy word “desire” when the knowledge of the goal is combined with a setting for its implementation, confidence in its achievability and a focus on mastering the appropriate means. Desire is a striving not for an object in itself, but for mastering it, for achieving a goal. Desire exists where not only the goal itself is desirable, but also the action that leads to it.
The initial urge to act, aimed at a specific, more or less clearly conscious goal, immediately entails action. One has only to imagine the goal in order to feel and know: yes, I want it! One has only to feel it in order to move on to action.
But sometimes action is not immediately followed by a call to action and setting a goal. It happens that before the action has taken place, there is doubt either about the given goal, or about the means that lead to its achievement. Sometimes several competing goals appear almost simultaneously, the thought arises of the possible undesirable consequences of the behavior that leads to the achievement of the desired goal, and as a result, a delay is created. The situation is getting worse. Between impulse and action wedged reflection and the struggle of motives.
Stage 2 - discussion and struggle of motives . It is sometimes said that, unlike an impulsive, affective action, which is conditioned by the situation more than by the permanent, essential properties or attitudes of the personality, volitional action as a selective act, that is, the result of a choice made by the personality, is conditioned by the personality as a whole. This is correct in a certain sense. But it is no less correct that the act of will often contains a struggle, a contradiction, a split. A person has many different needs and interests, and some of them turn out to be incompatible. The person gets into a conflict. An internal struggle of motives flares up.
First of all, naturally, there is a need to take into account the consequences that the fulfillment of a desire may entail. Here, the intellectual process is included in the volitional process. It transforms a volitional act into an action mediated by thought. Desirable action in itself can, under certain conditions, lead to undesirable consequences.
Delaying action for discussion is as essential to an act of will as are impulses to it. In the volitional act, other, competing impulses must be held back. The actuating impulse must also undergo a time delay, so that the action is an act of will, and not an impulsive discharge.
A volitional act is not an abstract activity, but an activity that includes self-restraint. Willpower lies not only in the ability to fulfill one's desires, but also in the ability to suppress some of them, subordinating some of them to others and any of them to tasks and goals to which personal desires must be subordinated.
It is no coincidence that V.A. Petrovsky notes that the will ensures the fulfillment of not only an incentive, but also an inhibitory function. And in these functions the will manifests itself. The inhibitory function, acting in unity with the motivating function, manifests itself in the containment of undesirable manifestations of activity. 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. Examples of the inhibitory function of the will could be taken both from the field of the highest manifestations of the human spirit (the ability to endure the most severe torture in captivity so as not to betray one's own), and from the sphere of everyday life (the ability to restrain one's feelings, not giving vent to aggression in relationships with colleagues, the ability to complete the work begun, resisting the temptation to give up everything and do something more attractive, etc.).
Will at its highest levels is not a simple collection of desires, but a certain organization of them. This is the organization of the functions of the will - both motivating and inhibitory. It implies, further, the ability to regulate one's behavior on the basis of general principles, beliefs, ideas. Therefore, the will requires self-control, the ability to manage oneself and dominate one's desires, and not just serving them.
Stage 3 - decision making. Before you act, you need to make a choice and make a decision. The choice requires evaluation. If the emergence of an impulse in the form of desire preliminarily puts forward a certain goal, then the final setting of the goal - sometimes not at all coinciding with the original one - is accomplished as a result of a decision. When making a decision, a person feels that the further course of events depends on him. Awareness of the consequences of one's action and the dependence of what happens on one's own decision gives rise to a sense of responsibility specific to an act of will.
Decision making can proceed in different ways. Sometimes it does not stand out at all in consciousness as a special phase: the volitional act is performed without a special decision. This happens in those cases when the impulse that has arisen in a person does not meet any internal opposition, and the realization of the goal corresponding to this impulse does not meet any external obstacles. Under such conditions, it is enough to imagine the goal and realize its desirability for action to follow. In those volitional acts in which the emergence of an impulse to action is followed by some sort of complex struggle of motives, or discussion and action are delayed, the decision stands out as a special moment.
Sometimes the solution seems to come by itself, being complete resolution the conflict that caused the conflict of motives. Some kind of internal work has taken place, something has moved, a lot has moved - and everything is presented in a new light: I came to a decision not because I consider it necessary to take this particular decision, but because no other is possible.
Finally, it happens that until the very end and at the very moment of making a decision, each of the motives still retains its strength, not a single possibility has disappeared by itself, and a decision in favor of one motive is taken not because the effective force of the others has been exhausted, but because other motives lost their attractiveness, but because the necessity or expediency of sacrificing all this is realized. In such a case, when the conflict, concluded in the struggle of motives, did not receive permissions, which would exhaust it, is especially recognized and distinguished solution, as a special act that subordinates everything else to one accepted goal.
With the adoption of a decision, relaxation occurs (various in degree and depth). It consists in a decrease in the tension that created the struggle of motives. At the same time, if the most intimate thoughts of a person are embodied in the decision made, a feeling of satisfaction arises in him, all hesitation and internal stress are removed. Even if the decision made does not fully correspond to the inner motives of a person, then even then it allows some emotional and volitional relaxation, causes a feeling of relief.
4 phase - execution. Making a decision is not the same as implementing it. The decision must be followed by execution. Without this link, the volitional act is not completed. The execution of the decision requires a change in reality. Human desires are not fulfilled by themselves, their implementation is faced with real obstacles that require real overcoming. When the struggle of motives is over and the decision has been made, then the real struggle only begins - the struggle for the fulfillment of the decision, for the fulfillment of desire, and in this struggle, aimed at changing reality, lies the main thing.
Before embarking on the realization of a distant goal that requires a complex series of actions, it is necessary to outline the leading path to it, and the means suitable for achieving it must be drawn up for yourself. plan actions. At the same time, the path to the final goal is divided into a number of stages. As a result, in addition to the final goal, a number of subordinate goals appear, and what was a means becomes itself an end at a certain stage. Psychologically, the possibility is not ruled out that such a subordinate end-means may temporarily become an end in itself for the subject. In a complex activity consisting of a chain of actions, a complex dialectic unfolds between the goal and the means: the means becomes the goal, and the goal becomes the means.
Unplannedness calls into question the achievement of the goal towards which the volitional action is directed. Volitional action in its highest forms must be planned action.
The execution of the decision made is the main, most important stage of the act of will. In a complex volitional action, it is associated with overcoming the most significant objective and subjective difficulties. Objective (external) obstacles are obstacles that do not depend on the acting person. Subjective (internal) - these are difficulties of a personal nature, depending on the physical and mental state of a person (lack of knowledge, experience, clash of old and new habits, struggle of negative ideas, desires, aspirations and feelings that have developed in the past: conscience, shame, duty). In most cases, external and internal difficulties appear in unity.
Thus, the execution of the decision taken is considered from a psychological point of view as the emergence and resolution of a chain of internal conflicts, situations by overcoming internal stress and constantly maintaining volitional effort.
Currently under willingly understand a form of emotional stress that mobilizes a person’s internal resources (memory, thinking, imagination, etc.) and creates additional motives for action that are absent or insufficient, and is experienced as a state of significant stress. As a result of volitional effort, it is possible to slow down the action of some and ultimately strengthen the action of other motives. Willpower associated with a sense of duty mobilizes a person to overcome external and internal difficulties. Victory over laziness, fear, fatigue as a result of volitional effort gives significant emotional satisfaction, is experienced as a victory over oneself.
Volitional efforts are characterized by the amount of energy expended to perform a purposeful action or to keep from unwanted actions. By the ability of a person to show volitional efforts, they judge the features of his will.
Stage 5 - summarizing what has been done. In the structure of a complex volitional act V.I. Selivanov include summarizing what has been done. Having made a volitional act, a person thinks about its results, analyzes, draws conclusions for the future.
As a result, a volitional action is a conscious, purposeful action by means of which 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. Volitional action is a specifically human action by which a person consciously changes the world.
A particularly significant act of will takes place in an extremely short time, with the mobilization of all the forces of the individual, as a rush. Under these conditions, the boundaries of the stages of volitional action and behavior are erased, all its stages, as it were, coalesce, interpenetrate each other. Most often this happens in emergency situations: in a combat situation, when saving people's lives, when the rescuer himself is in danger, during natural disasters, accidents, catastrophes, etc.
The will as a conscious organization and self-regulation of activity aimed at overcoming internal difficulties is, first of all, power over oneself, over one's feelings, actions. After all, it is known that different people have this power in different degrees of expression. Ordinary consciousness fixes a huge range of individual characteristics of the will, differing in the intensity of their manifestations, characterized on one pole as strength, and on the other as weakness of the will.
