Will: the psychology of conscious choice

The concept of "will" psychology considers ambiguously, and throughout various historical eras, various phenomena were meant by it.

In the most general terms, the will can be perceived as a property of a person, which allows him to consciously control his thoughts and actions. Proceeding from this understanding, it can be considered one of the most important properties, the manifestation of which is capable of the human psyche: is not it the most striking, demarcating line between an animal and a man? If the first are led by their instincts, then the latter are capable of suppressing them with the help of willpower.

The concept of the will in psychology

So, as we have already said, there are several models of understanding the will. Modern psychology adheres to the fact that man's will manifests itself in the ability to consciously achieve his goal, and among the basic qualities of its manifestation are courage, determination, perseverance, self-control, independence, etc.

In order to understand the will, one must well imagine what freedom is, because these concepts are closely related.

The will in psychology is a concept with a unique history, because it was revised three times within the framework of this science, which gave birth to three different definitions.

At first, under the will, they understood the peculiar mechanism of actions that a person performed contrary to his desires, but, nevertheless, was motivated by reason.

Then the will began to be perceived as a struggle of motives, which brings it closer to the theme of the problem of choice.

And at the final stage of the evolution of understanding of the will, it was defined as a way of overcoming obstacles that prevented the achievement of the goal. This definition gives a rather superficial idea of the will, because it illuminates only one facet of its manifestation, but in reality there are more: for example, with the help of the will, a person can overcome himself, his desires, his natural needs, although this will not be the goal. There are cases when people saved the lives of others by sacrificing their intentions, and it would be incorrect and incomplete to characterize one of such situations as "overcoming difficulties to achieve the goal".

The brightest historical and religious figure, showing will with a shade of self-sacrifice - Jesus Christ.

It should also be noted that in philosophy there is such a thing as "voluntarism". From the Latin language it is translated as "will" and in this philosophical current it was given the role of the first principle, the supreme principle of being.

Will: the psychology of behavior "in spite of"

Here is revealed the most interesting part of this mental ability of a person, we see that a person knows how not to accept circumstances as they are. Data can be assessed negatively by many people, but you need to have enough developed will to decide to change what is given. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in one of his books told a story about hand gazelles that grew in a pen. When the animals grew older, they began to strive to break free, but all that they did was stand by the fence and look at the open spaces. This is a fictitious story, but this behavior is typical for animals: sooner or later they resign themselves and leave attempts to act contrary to the situation. The attempt to escape from the cell because of the instinct and attempt to do it because of the belief in something have a different nature, where in the second case the word "contrary" is the key, unlike the first.

Will: the psychology of the choice problem

Some philosophers (B. Spinoza, J. Locke) tried to understand the relationship of will and freedom of choice. J. Locke believed that freedom is an opportunity to act or not act, and during a volitional act a person is always subordinated to necessity, and therefore he shared these concepts. Benedikt Spinoza, like many ancient thinkers, was closer to the truth - he believed that the internal freedom is to voluntarily decide to overcome the contradiction between "I want" and "is."

Will: the psychology of control of one's actions

Julius Kul identified several types of control during the volitional impulse, which allow to realize it:

1. Selective attention. It is aimed at the subject to be achieved, while all other elements of the environment are eliminated.
2. Control of emotions. There are some emotions that interfere with the realization of aspiration, and the willed person refuses them.

3. Control of the environment. Everything that prevents reaching the goal, is eliminated from the nearest space.

Thus, will is an amazing property of a person, without which, probably, our evolutionary path would have a completely different trajectory.