The concept of will and volitional regulation. functions of will in various approaches

Will in psychology

Let's present the main psychological characterization will in Figure 2. Consider further volitional action - the basis of will.

Figure 2. "Will"

Volitional action

All human actions can be divided into two groups:

  1. arbitrary,
  2. involuntary.

Voluntary actions are carried out under the control of consciousness, respectively - involuntary are subordinated to the unconscious.

Let's analyze the structure of volitional action.

  1. Motivation for action. Usually this action is poorly understood by a person. The motivation for action is associated with those emotional states that are manifested as a result of the emergence of a certain need.
  2. Anticipation of the purpose of the intended action. The main characteristic of a volitional action is to obtain a result after its completion.
  3. Finding the means to achieve the goal.
  4. Intention to take action. Without this intention, the implementation of the activity will not occur, due to which the result will not be achieved.
  5. Decision to take action. There are three main types of solutions:
  • habitual decisions (typical for simple volitional actions, these are the so-called everyday "stereotyped" decisions);
  • decisions without sufficient reason (emotional rush decisions, decisions on an unconscious basis);
  • deliberate decisions (decisions that are typical of volitional actions, since they are deliberate).
  • Strong-willed effort. It is expressed either in attention focused on the action being performed, or in encouraging oneself to act, despite the difficulties and obstacles that have arisen on the way to achieving the goal. Volitional efforts are different depending on the nature and characteristics of the difficulties to overcome which they are undertaken. With all its diversity, the difficulties that a person has to overcome in his volitional actions can be summarized in the following two groups:
    • objective difficulties due to the characteristic features of the objects and phenomena themselves; for example, physical work that requires a lot of muscular effort: a complex algebraic problem that requires a lot of mental stress to solve it; gymnastic exercise, requiring outstanding dexterity and coordination of movements from the performer, etc .;
    • subjective difficulties due to the characteristics of the subject himself, the relationship he has developed with the surrounding reality; for example, the fear of performing a given physical exercise (for example, jumping into the water from a height of one meter), although objectively it is not difficult; lack of love for a given academic subject (for example, history), although objectively lessons on this subject do not present any particular difficulty; laziness, developed in connection with certain living conditions, the habit of not bothering to overcome certain difficulties on their own, the absence of the habit of systematic and persistent work, etc.
  • Performing related activities. It is carried out by means of certain working operations aimed at achieving the set goal using the intended means.

    • PSYCHOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY

    4. Emotional-volitional sphere of personality

    4.2. Will

    To achieve this goal, a person takes initiative, strains his mental and physical strength, overcomes difficulties, restrains impulses and desires that do not contribute to the successful achievement of the goal. In these manifestations of human behavior, such an aspect of mental life as will is most clearly manifested.

    4.2.1 Will and volitional actions of a person

    The satisfaction of human needs occurs in activities that are active, purposeful and motivated. It is realized through actions generated by different motives. The reasons for activity, having a different psychological nature, are realized as drives, desires and aspirations. Striving is an urge expressed in the sensory experience of a need. At the moment of its emergence, it does not yet have a concrete objective definiteness. A person, as it were, aspires to something, feels that something is lacking for her. Such an unconscious, unconscious desire, which does not cause voluntary actions, is called a train. In the process of realizing the object of aspiration, the goal, the aspiration becomes a desire .. The totality of these motives, which acquire the character of motives of actions, actions and forms of activity, forms the motivational sphere of the individual.

    The motivation for action in humans is distinguished by content and psychological nature. In some cases, it can be an immediate impulsive response to a stimulus, in others - a slow moderate action after assessing the situation.

    Types of human actions.

    Human actions are divided into involuntary and voluntary.

    Involuntary actions. They are carried out when unconscious or insufficiently realized impulses arise. They are impulsive in nature, lacking any clear plan (for example, in a state of panic). According to the psychophysiological nature, involuntary actions are congenital and acquired.

    To congenital involuntary actions include various orієntuvalny, protective and grasping reactions, expressive movements. They are based on unconditioned reflexes, which are caused by unconditioned stimuli and are carried out by the lower parts of the central nervous system.

    The acquired involuntary actions include those caused by conditioned stimuli, protective, grasping reactions and expressive movements that occur due to the activity of the cerebral cortex.

    Arbitrary actions. The content and means of implementing such actions, subordinate to the conscious goals of a person. They are inextricably linked with the reflection of the goal and the means of achieving it and cover the striving for the goal, the preliminary idea of ​​the goal and the motor representation.

    Arbitrary actions are carried out with the help of self-regulation, which provides for arbitrary control over their planning and implementation. Its structure includes the goal that a person wants to achieve, as well as a program of actions that it must carry out in order to achieve the goal. Self-regulation also involves clarifying the criteria for the success of actions, comparing the results of the action with them and making a decision, according to which the action is considered completed or it is continued, correcting.

    Volitional actions form a special group of voluntary actions.

    Voluntary actions of a person are aimed at achieving consciously set goals and are associated with overcoming difficulties. They vary in complexity. Thus, an individual who first got on a bicycle overcomes some of the fears associated with a possible fall. This volitional action is simple. A complex volitional action has several simple ones. Complex actions are part of the system of organized volitional human activity aimed at achieving distant goals. This system also includes volitional qualities. The main psychological function of the will is to enhance motivation and improve the regulation of actions. In this, volitional actions differ from impulsive ones, which occur involuntarily and are not sufficiently controlled by consciousness.

    Will and its functions.

    Having arisen in the process of labor activity, the will has become a special form of personality activity, which is conditioned by the set goal.

    Will is a conscious organization and self-regulation by a person of his activities and behavior, aimed at overcoming difficulties in achieving his goals.

    With the help of incentive and inhibitory functions, the will gives a person the opportunity to regulate his actions and deeds.

    The incentive function of the will. It is provided by human activity. Activity generates action and regulates its course through the characteristics of a person's mental states that arise at the moment of action. The motivation for action creates a certain ordered system of motives - from natural needs to higher motives associated with the experience of moral, aesthetic and intellectual feelings.

    The inhibitory function of the will. It is realized in close unity with the incentive, which manifests itself in the situational containment of unwanted manifestations of emotions, actions and deeds that do not correspond to the worldview and moral convictions of the individual. Without inhibition, no regulation of behavior is possible.

    In its unity, the incentive and inhibitory functions of the will, by regulating activity and behavior, enable a person to achieve a set goal. However, only these two functions do not exhaust the entire content of the concept "will". Volitional activity involves assessing the situation, choosing a goal and ways to achieve it, making a decision, etc. It is characterized by a state of optimal mobilization of the individual, a mode of activity aimed at meeting needs, and the concentration of this activity in the required direction.

    The problem of free will.

    Is a person free in their desires, decisions and actions? In philosophy and psychology, this issue is pivotal in solving the problem of free will. All possible points of view on its solution can be combined into two opposite trends: indeterminism and determinism. Indeterminism(from Latin in - not, determinare - to define). Referring the will to purely spiritual phenomena, in the sphere of which causality supposedly does not exist, but complete freedom reigns, his supporters believe that a person's will, his desires and actions are completely free, are not conditioned or limited by anything.

    Determinism. According to this point of view, all actions and deeds of a person have a reason. Approaching this problem in a simplistic and mechanistic way, the determinists denied the existence of any free will. In their opinion, the objective laws of the development of nature and society deprive the individual of the opportunity to independently determine his actions and change circumstances. Consequently, a person cannot and should not be responsible for his actions and deeds.

    Representatives of both currents are mistaken in the fact that they oppose freedom and the causation of will.

    In fact, the laws of the development of nature and society, imposing certain restrictions, at the same time create certain conditions for the free activity of man. The deeper a person learns the laws of the world, the richer his experience, the freer he is in his desires, decisions and actions.

    At the same time, people are aware of the extent of their free will in different ways, which is manifested in their different loci of control. Some of them tend to look for reasons negative consequences their actions in external circumstances, and others - in internal obstacles.

    Locus of control.

    The volitional regulation of behavior is impossible without taking into account its conditions, because a volitional act is carried out by a person as a person responsible for all its consequences. Although behavior is always aimed at achieving a goal, the end results of activities sometimes do not meet expectations. Based on research, it has been established that people differ among themselves depending on who they tend to ascribe responsibility for their own actions.

    For differentiation different ways the assignment of responsibility by the American psychologist Julian Rotter (1916-1995) substantiated the concept of "locus of control".

    Locus of control (Latin locus - place) is an individual quality of a person, which characterizes his tendency to ascribe responsibility for the results of his activities to external forces (external locus of control) or internal states and experiences (internal locus of control).

    Rotter proved that the locus of control is a stable property of the personality, which is formed in the process of its socialization. People who tend to attribute the reasons for their actions and actions to external factors have an external (external) locus of control. They always look for the reasons for their failures in external circumstances. So, a student who did not pass the exam explains this by the lack of time for preparation, the complexity of the subject, etc. Researchers have found that the tendency towards external localization of control is associated with such personality traits as imbalance, self-doubt, anxiety, suspicion, conformity, aggressiveness, etc.

    If a person takes responsibility for his own actions and sees the reasons for them in the peculiarities of his attention, thinking, abilities, internal experiences, then she has an internal (internal) locus of control. Individuals of this type are characterized by self-confidence, persistence and consistency in achieving their goals, a tendency to introspection, poise, sociability, benevolence and independence.

    Will and risk.

    Not every desire encourages practical action aimed at achieving a conscious goal. It can be limited only to the idea of ​​the goal and the way to achieve it. In some cases, desire does not immediately cause activity due to the uncertainty of the outcome and possible adverse consequences in case of failure. A person is faced with a situation of choice between two possible options for action: less pleasant, but more reliable, and more pleasant, but not so reliable (the outcome of which is uncertain, with possible undesirable consequences).

    The granting of an active advantage by a subject to a hazardous option over a safe option is denoted by the term “risk”. Human behavior in a risk situation is one of the most characteristic manifestations of will.

    Risk is an active action aimed at an attractive goal, the achievement of which is associated with elements of danger.

    There are two reasons for risky behavior, which involve the use of freedom as necessary condition for the risk. The first is related to the expectation of a gain, the expected value of which, if successful, is dominated by the level of punishment. This is a situational risk. Here the motivation for success is stronger than the motivation for avoiding failure. If the motivation for avoiding failure is stronger than the motivation for success, then greater willpower is needed to make a decision about risky behavior.

    The risk is justified and unjustified. In the case of a justified risk, when making a volitional decision, a person tries to reasonably take into account all the pros and cons, given that the final result may depend both on the case and on its capabilities. The reason for unnecessary risk is a person's desire to experience the thrill. It's risk for risk. Its presence in certain people has been established experimentally.

    Will- the highest level of voluntary regulation of activity, ensuring overcoming difficulties in achieving the goal.

    Among the levels of regulation of behavior, the following are distinguished:

    1.Involuntary regulation:

  • prepsychic involuntary reactions;
    • figurative (sensory and perceptual) regulation.

    2. Arbitrary regulation:

    • speech-thinking level of regulation.

    3.Volitional regulation... The structure and content of volitional action:

    • The emergence of motivation and preliminary goal setting
    • The stage of discussion and "struggle of motives" as a collision in the process of choosing one or another action of conflicting tendencies, desires, motives.
    • making a decision regarding the choice of one or another variant of behavior is a kind of phase of "resolution" of the struggle of motives. At this stage, there is either a feeling of relief associated with resolving the situation and relieving stress, or a state of anxiety associated with uncertainty about the correctness of the decision;
    • execution implementation of the decision, the embodiment of one or another variant of action in their behavior (activity).

    In most cases, decision-making and volitional behavior in general are associated with great internal tension, sometimes acquiring a stressful character. The presence of volitional effort experienced by the subject as his psychic reality is very characteristic feature volitional act.

    Volitional regulation is a lifetime education. Volitional regulation is associated with the manifestation of efforts that implement the activity of the individual, aimed at the conscious mobilization of her mental and physical forces.

    Volitional effort is a mechanism of volitional regulation, a means of mobilizing the subject of his mental and physical capabilities.

    Volitional action is a conscious and purposeful action taken by the decision of the subject himself. The situation is overcoming difficulties, both external and internal, determined by additional motives, connections with changes in the meaning of the action (you cannot solve the problem at once, you need to make some effort).

    Volitional behavior - purposeful behavior of a person, manifests itself in the ability to control oneself, one's actions and deeds on the basis of a desire to achieve a certain goal, through the implementation of special actions. Specificity of volitional regulation.

    Will and regulation of activity.

    Traditionally, it is believed that the main thing for the emergence of volitional regulation is the presence of obstacles, obstacles in achieving the goal. M. Vekker believes that volitional regulation begins where there is at least a two-level hierarchy of activity programs, where it is necessary to correlate the levels of these programs and choose among them the level that meets the criteria of intellectual, emotional, moral and general social value.

    IM Sechenov put approximately the same meaning into the concept of will when he wrote that will is the active side of reason and moral feelings.

    Strong-willed regulation includes the following components:

    1. cognitive
    2. emotional
    3. behavioral (active)

    The structure of a volitional act includes the following components:

    1. motivation and awareness of the goal;
    2. struggle of motives;
    3. decision-making act;
    4. execution.

    Volitional action is associated with needs, but does not follow directly from them. It is mediated by the awareness of the motives for action as motives and its result as goals (S. L. Rubinstein).

    Will arises when a person is capable of reflecting on his own drives, can somehow relate to them. Will is inextricably linked to the plan of action at hand. By means of volitional action, a person plannedly realizes the goal facing him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan.

    The main characteristics of will. Volitional regulation of behavior. The concept of will is one of the most ancient, Aristotle tried to study it. Descartes. It was introduced as an explanatory concept. According to Aristotle, the concept of will was necessary to explain the generation of action, based not on the desires of a person, but on a reasonable decision about his existence. Realizing that knowledge itself does not have motivation, but constantly faced with the reality of human ethical actions, when the action is carried out not because it wants to, but because it is necessary, Aristotle was forced to look for a force capable of initiating such behavior.

    The problem of will, according to Aristotle, is the problem of imparting an incentive to the object of action and thereby providing an incentive to action (or inhibition, if necessary, a decrease in the incentive power of the object of action).

    Previously, the will was considered as a supernatural force that takes precedence over other mental processes. There is no absolute will. We can talk about will when an impulse arises:

    1. Volition phase: desire + aspiration + motive.
    2. Choice phase: struggle of motives, decision making.
    3. The phase of realization by action, the decision turns into a bodily action. Our decision, our behavior is determined by a strong motive. In Aristotle's concept, the will determined not only the initiation of voluntary actions, but also their choice and their regulation during implementation. Moreover, the will itself could be understood both as an independent force (formation) of the soul, and as a person's ability to a certain activity, coming from himself.

    Thus, the first paradigm, within the framework of which the problem of will was posed, was the product of a person's action, coming from himself. Consideration of will in the context of generating action presupposes, first of all, the incentive function of will, and this approach can be conventionally designated as motivational, it is the most powerful in the study of will.

    It is characterized by the fact that the will is analyzed as the ability to initiate actions, or to strengthen the impulse to action when it is deficient, due to external or internal obstacles, the absence of an actually experienced desire for action, the presence of motives competing with the action being performed. Depending on the ideas about the mechanisms of such an ability, will is understood:

    • either as an independent mental education,
    • either as an independent force of a non-psychological nature,
    • either as a motivational or emotional education (desire, affects, needs),
    • or is reduced to the state of the brain as a regulatory mechanism.

    Later, a second approach to the study of will was formulated, the “Free Choice” approach. Within the framework of this approach, the will is endowed with the function of choosing motives, goals and actions. One of the trends in the development of this approach is the translation of research on choice and, more broadly, decision-making in research areas that are not directly related to the problem of will and have their own conceptual apparatus. Therefore, the actual tasks of the "free choice" approach are to isolate the volitional aspects of the problem of choice and to develop adequate methods for their experimental study.

    Within the framework of this approach, two variants of ideas about will can be distinguished:

    1. Will is seen as an independent force (voluntaristic type of theory);
    2. Will comes down to functioning cognitive processes(intellectualistic theories).

    Thus, in modern psychology, the problem of will is presented in two versions: as a problem of self-determination (motivational approach and the approach of "free choice") and as a problem of self-regulation (regulatory approach).

    When a person voluntarily accepts moral norms, the highest moral law, and is guided by it in his actions, we can say that a person is morally free. To be free means to obey reason, not passions (Leibniz, Spinoza).

    In psychology, freedom of choice is understood when a person, as a result of a struggle of motives, chooses the one that is more powerful. Modern researchers of the will are Selivanova, Ivannikov, Platonov, Volya is defined by them as a person's conscious regulation of his behavior as a result of overcoming internal and external obstacles to the path and goal. Will structure: Purpose; Level of claim; Strong-willed effort; Struggle of motives; Decision-making; Performance.

    Volitional effort can be at any stage of volitional action associated with overcoming obstacles. Volitional effort - form emotional stress, mobilizing all the internal resources of a person, creating additional motives for action and experiencing mental states of significant stress (Ivannikov). The psychological mechanism of volitional effort is the attraction of a new motive, thereby changing the meaning of the action in order to strengthen the primary impulse.

    Will functions.

    • Incentive;
    • Braking (restrains unwanted actions)

    In Western Psychology:

    • initiation of action (formation of intention);
    • supporting the primary intention in an active state until the goal is achieved.
    • overcoming the obstacle.

    Volitional regulation of behavior.

    Volitional regulation is a particular type of voluntary control and is characterized by the use of significant volitional efforts aimed at overcoming obstacles and difficulties, i.e. is a self-mobilization mechanism.

    Volitional regulation is necessary in order for a long time to keep in the field of consciousness the object over which the person is thinking, to maintain the focused attention on it.

    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 lower to higher means the acquisition of volitional control over them by a person.

    Often, a judgment about the presence or absence of volitional regulation (volitional behavior) is made on the basis of the results achieved by a person. However, you can try to overcome the difficulty, but not overcome it.

    In everyday use, the concept of "volitional regulation" is identified with the concept of "willpower". In this regard, it is customary to divide people into strong-willed and weak-willed.

    The specific content of volitional regulation is understood by psychologists in different ways.

    "Willpower" as the power of motive. Volitional activity of a person is determined by the strength of motive (need), because the latter affects 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. Therefore, the power of will is often replaced by the power of motive: if I want, then I do it. Yu.Yu. Palaima believes that "willpower" is, in essence, the power of motive and that a person of strong will is, first of all, a person with a strong motivation for behavior. Therefore, it is the mechanism of volitional regulation that a person has that determines the greater or lesser possibilities for the realization of desire.

    "Willpower" as a struggle of motives. Often, willpower is reduced only to the "struggle of motives", which is one of the internal obstacles to activity. There are many situations when the choice of one or another alternative solution is not required, and volitional regulation is necessary, because on the way to achieving the goal, various obstacles and difficulties are encountered. In such situations, the need remains, but the accompanying energy is not enough to overcome the difficulties that have arisen and achieve the goal, and the volitional mechanism must be turned on to enhance the energy of action.

    Involvement in the regulation of emotions. Some psychologists believe that mobilization (additional energitization) is carried out due to the emotion that arises in the presence of an obstacle as a reaction to the mismatch “I must-I can’t”, “I don’t want to - but I must”. However, at the same time, a volitional effort should not be substituted for such an emotional reaction. In addition, volitional efforts are also applied against the background of negative emotions, which contribute not to mobilization, but to demobilize a person's capabilities. Therefore, volitional effort is considered the main mechanism for mobilizing energy.

    "Willpower" as an independent volitional quality. The moral component of will (for example, a sense of duty) is nonspecific in relation to different volitional qualities, there is no "willpower" that is manifested in the same way in all situations. One and the same person, as practice and experiments show, when faced with various difficulties, behaves differently: in some situations he shows great "willpower", in others - insignificant.

    Therefore, A. Puni's position that manifestations of will are always specific and conditioned by the difficulties that a person overcomes is true. On the other hand, attempts to define "willpower" as a kind of abstract indicator are also incorrect, as is the selection of people with high, medium and low levels of volitional development. "Willpower" as a general personal construct is either a product of a correlation analysis of self-assessments of various volitional manifestations, between which, in most cases, connections are found, or any one volitional manifestation taken for "willpower", most often purposefulness and perseverance. It is more correct to talk about various manifestations of "willpower" (volitional regulation), called volitional qualities.

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    To begin with, it is necessary to note the fact that psychology is multi-stage and multi-level. And in order to assimilate it most effectively, consider the following concepts, which we will refer to as we analyze today's topic: PERSONALITY, PSYCHOLOGY, WILL, VOLUNTARY ACTIONS.

    1. PERSONALITY is a relatively stable integral system of intellectual, moral-volitional and socio-cultural qualities of a person, expressed in the individual characteristics of his consciousness and activity.
    2. PSYCHOLOGY Is a complex and multi-level science that studies the laws of the emergence, development, and functioning of the human psyche, as well as a group of people.
    3. WILL - this is the ability to choose the goal of the activity and the internal efforts necessary for its implementation.
    4. WILL ACTION- these are actions that we do in real life involuntarily.

    Note that satisfying human needs occurs in an activity that is active, purposeful and motivated. It is realized through actions generated by different motives. The reasons for activity, having a different psychological nature, are realized as drives, desires and aspirations. Striving is an urge expressed in the sensory experience of a need. At the moment of its emergence, it does not yet have a concrete objective definiteness.

    There are the following types of human actions:

    1. Involuntary actions. They are carried out when unconscious or insufficiently realized impulses arise. They are impulsive in nature, lacking any clear plan (for example, in a state of panic). According to the psychophysiological nature, involuntary actions are congenital and acquired.
    2. Arbitrary actions. The content and means of implementing such actions, subordinate to the conscious goals of a person. They are inextricably linked with the reflection of the goal and the means of achieving it and cover the striving for the goal, the preliminary idea of ​​the goal and the motor representation.

    I hope that you were able to identify for yourself something useful and new. If there are any questions that are not raised, remember that you can always ask a question that concerns you, our team will be happy to consider and justify it.
    Good luck and success in work and study!

    A volitional act is a complex, multi-stage process that includes a need (desire) that determines the motivation of behavior, awareness of the need, the struggle of motives, the choice of a method of implementation, the launch of implementation, control of implementation.

    Desire, will, will are states of consciousness, well known to everyone, but not amenable to any definition. We want to experience, have, do all sorts of things that at this moment we do not experience, do not have, do not do. If our desire for something is associated with the realization that the object of our desires is unattainable, then we simply desire; if we are sure that the goal of our desires is achievable, then we want it to come true, and it is carried out either immediately, or after we have performed some preliminary actions.

    The only goals of our desires, which we realize immediately, directly, are the movement of our body. Whatever feelings we wish to experience, whatever possessions we strive for, we can achieve them only by making several preliminary movements for our purpose. This fact is too obvious and therefore does not need examples: therefore, we can take as the starting point of our study of will the position that the only direct external manifestations are bodily movements. We now have to consider the mechanism by which volitional movements are made.

    Volitional acts are the arbitrary functions of our body. The movements that we have considered so far belonged to the type of automatic, or reflex, acts, and, moreover, acts whose significance is not foreseen by the person performing them (at least by the person performing them for the first time in his life). The movements, which we are now starting to study, being deliberate and knowingly constituting the object of desires, of course, are performed with full awareness of what they should be. It follows that volitional movements are a derivative, not a primary function of the organism. This is the first point that should be borne in mind in order to understand the psychology of the will. Both the reflex, and the instinctive movement, and the emotional essence are the primary functions. The nerve centers are arranged in such a way that certain stimuli cause their discharge in certain parts, and a being experiencing such a discharge for the first time experiences a completely new phenomenon of experience.

    The main signs of an act of will:

    1) the application of efforts to perform an act of will;

    2) the presence of a well-thought-out plan for the implementation of a behavioral act;

    3) increased attention to such a behavioral act and the lack of immediate pleasure obtained in the process and as a result of its execution;

    4) often efforts of the will are directed not so much at victory over circumstances, as at overcoming oneself.

    Will functions

    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.).

    Unlike volitional behavior, which is characterized by unintentional behavior, activity is characterized by arbitrariness, i.e. conditionality of action by a deliberately set goal. Activity may not be caused by the requirements of the momentary situation, the desire to adapt to it, to act within the bounds of the given. It is characterized by oversituationality, i.e. going beyond the initial goals, the person's ability to rise above the level of the situation's requirements, set goals that are redundant 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 will is to enhance motivation and improve, on this basis, the conscious regulation of actions. The real mechanism for generating an additional incentive to action is a conscious change in the meaning of the action by the person performing it. The meaning of an action is usually associated with a struggle of motives and changes with certain, deliberate mental efforts.

    The need for volitional action arises when an obstacle has appeared on the way to the implementation of motivated activity. A volitional act is associated with overcoming it. Beforehand, however, it is necessary to realize and comprehend the essence of the problem that has arisen.

    Volitional action is always associated with the consciousness of the goal of the activity, its significance, with the subordination of this goal to the actions performed. Sometimes it becomes necessary to attach a special meaning to any goal, and in this case, the participation of the will in the regulation of activity is reduced to finding the appropriate meaning, the increased value of this activity. Otherwise, it is necessary to find additional incentives for performing, bringing to the end of the already begun activity, 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 actions associated with learning acquire a volitional character.

    Energy and the source of volitional actions are always, in one way or another, associated with the actual needs of a person. Relying on them, a person gives a conscious meaning to his voluntary actions. In this regard, volitional actions are no less deterministic than any others, only they are associated with consciousness, intense work of thinking and overcoming difficulties.

    Volitional regulation can be included in the activity at any of the stages of its implementation: initiation of activity, choice of means and methods of its implementation, adherence to the planned plan or deviation from it, control of execution. The peculiarity of the inclusion of volitional regulation at the initial moment of the implementation of activities is that a person, deliberately rejecting some drives, motives and goals, prefers others and realizes them in spite of momentary, immediate impulses. The will in the choice of action is manifested in the fact that, deliberately abandoning the usual way of solving the problem, the individual chooses a different, sometimes more difficult, and tries not to deviate from it. Finally, 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 so. Particular difficulties in terms of volitional regulation are presented for a person by such an activity where the 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 will in the management of activities is a situation associated with the struggle of incompatible motives, each of which requires at the same time to perform different actions. Then the consciousness and thinking of a person, being involved 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 activity being carried out with the highest spiritual values ​​of a person, consciously giving them much more importance than they had in the beginning.

    The following characteristic features of will can be distinguished:

    Endurance and persistence of will, which are characterized by the fact that vigorous activity covers long periods of a person's life, striving to achieve a goal.

    The principled consistency and constancy of will, as opposed to inconsistency 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 all secondary and secondary

    The criticality of will, opposing its easy suggestibility and the tendency to act thoughtlessly. This feature lies in deep thoughtfulness and self-critical assessment of all their actions. It is possible to persuade such a person to change the line of behavior he has taken only through well-founded argumentation.

    Determination, which consists in the absence of unnecessary hesitation in the struggle of motives, in the quick decision-making and bold implementation of them.

    Will is characterized by the ability to subordinate one's personal, individual aspirations to the will of the collective, to the will of the class to which a person belongs.

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