Will: psychology of conscious choice
Psychology treats the concept of “will” ambiguously, and throughout different historical eras it was understood as different phenomena.
In the most general terms, the will can be perceived asthe property of a person that allows him to consciously manage his thoughts and actions. Based on this understanding, it can be considered one of the most important properties that the human psyche is capable of manifesting: does it not put the brightest, demarcating line between animal and man? If the former are aware of their instincts, the latter are able to suppress them with the help of willpower.
The concept of will in psychology
So, as we have already said, there are severalmodels of understanding will. Modern psychology adheres to the fact that human will is manifested in the ability to consciously achieve its goal, and among the basic qualities of its manifestation are called courage, determination, perseverance, self-control, independence, etc.
In order to understand the will, you need to be well aware of what freedom is, because these concepts are closely related.
Will in psychology is a concept with a unique history, because within the framework of this science it was revised three times, which gave rise to three different definitions.
At first, under the will understood a peculiar mechanism of actions that were performed by a person against his wishes, but, nevertheless, were inspired by reason.
Then the will was perceived as a struggle of motives, which makes it related to the topic of the problem of choice.
And at the final stage of the evolution of understanding her willidentified as a way to overcome the obstacles that prevent to achieve 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 of them: for example, with the help of 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, sacrificing their intention, and characterizing one of such situations as “overcoming difficulties to achieve a goal” would be incorrect and incomplete.
The brightest historical and religious figure who showed the will with a touch of self-sacrifice is Jesus Christ.
It should also be noted that in philosophy there aresuch a thing as "voluntarism". From the Latin language, it translates as “will” and in this philosophical course it was given the role of the fundamental principle, the highest principle of being.
Will: the psychology of behavior "in spite of"
Here is the most interesting part of this.mental ability of a person, we see that a person can not accept circumstances as they are. Relationship can be judged negatively by many people, but you need to have a sufficiently developed will to decide to change what is given. Antoine de Saint-Exupery in one of his books told a story about hand ghazals who grew up in a pen. When the animals grew up, they began to strive to break free, but all they did was stand at the fence and look at the open spaces. This is a fictitious story, but this behavior is typical of animals: sooner or later they will be humble and give up trying to act in spite of the situation. Attempting to break out of a cage because of instinct and trying to do it because of conviction in something have a different nature, where in the second case the word “contrary” is key, unlike the first.
Will: the psychology of the problem of choice
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 to act, and during a volitional act a person is always subject to necessity, and therefore he shared these concepts. Benedict Spinoza, like many ancient thinkers, turned out to be closer to the truth - he believed that inner freedom is in order to voluntarily decide to overcome the contradiction between “I want” and “is”.
Will: the psychology of control of their actions
Julius Kul singled out several types of control during a volitional rush that allow it to be implemented:
- Selective attention. It is aimed at the object to be achieved, while all other elements of the environment are eliminated.
- Control of emotions. There are some emotions that interfere with the realization of aspiration, and a strong-willed person refuses them.
Control environment. Everything that hinders the achievement of a goal is eliminated from the nearest space.
Thus, the will is an amazing property of man, without which, probably, our evolutionary path would have a completely different trajectory.
