Will is one of the most complex concepts in psychology. It is considered both as a mental process and as an aspect of most other important mental processes and phenomena, and as a unique ability of a person to arbitrarily control his behavior.

Will- it is a person's conscious overcoming of difficulties on the way to the implementation of an action. Faced with obstacles, a person either refuses to act in the chosen direction, or “increases” efforts to overcome the barrier, i.e., performs a special action that goes beyond the boundaries of his original motives and goals; this special action consists in changing the very urge to act. A person intentionally attracts additional motives for action, in other words, builds a new motive. An important role in the construction of new motives is played by a person's imagination, foresight and ideal "playing" of certain possible consequences of activity.

Ultimately, the complexity of the concept of "will" is explained by the fact that it is very closely related to the concept of "consciousness", an extremely complex psychological phenomenon, and is one of its most important attributes. Being closely connected also with the motivational sphere of the personality, the will is a special arbitrary form of human activity. It involves the initiation, stabilization and inhibition (inhibition) of a number of aspirations, impulses, desires, motives; organizes a system of actions in the direction of achieving conscious goals.

Three main functions volitional processes.

1. initiating, or incentive, function(directly related to motivational factors) is to force one or another action, behavior, activity to start, overcoming objective and subjective obstacles.

2. Stabilizing function associated with volitional efforts to maintain activity at the proper level in the event of external and internal interference of various kinds.

3. Inhibitory or inhibitory function consists in inhibiting other, often strong motives and desires, other behaviors that are not consistent with the main goals of activity (and behavior) at one time or another. A person is able to slow down the awakening of motives and the implementation of actions that contradict his idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe proper, is able to say “no!” motives, the exercise of which could jeopardize values ​​of a higher order. Regulation of behavior would be impossible without inhibition.

Along with this, volitional actions also have three main features.

The first one is awareness freedom implementation of actions, a sense of fundamental "uncertainty" of one's own behavior.

The second is the obligatory objective determinism any, even seemingly extremely “free” action.

The third - in volitional action (behavior) the personality is manifested generally - as fully and explicitly as possible, since volitional regulation acts as the highest level of mental regulation.

Will as a conscious organization and self-regulation of activity, aimed at overcoming internal difficulties, it is, first of all, power over oneself, over one's feelings, actions. It is well known that different people 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. The range of manifestations of weak will is as great as the characteristic qualities of a strong will. The extreme degree of weak will is beyond the norm of the psyche. These include, for example, abulia and apraxia.

Abulia - this is the lack of motivation for activity, arising on the basis of brain pathology, the inability, upon understanding the need, to make a decision to act or execute it.

Apraxia - a complex violation of the purposefulness of actions caused by damage to the brain structures. If the damage to the nervous tissue is localized in the frontal lobes of the brain, apraxia occurs, which manifests itself in a violation of the voluntary regulation of movements and actions that do not obey a given program and, therefore, make it impossible to carry out an act of will.

Abulia and apraxia - relatively rare events, inherent in people with severe mental disorders. The weak will that a teacher encounters in everyday work is, as a rule, due not to brain pathology, but to certain conditions of upbringing. Correction of lack of will is possible, as a rule, only against the background of a change in the social situation of personality development.

CONCEPT

Will - the process of conscious regulation by a person of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties in the performance of purposeful actions and deeds.

In psychology, the problem of will exists in two versions: the first is represented by the traditional problem of self-determination, the second - by the problem of self-regulation. Volitional regulation in the variant of self-determination, according to scientists, occurs through a change in the meaning of the action that provides its motivation, or, conversely, its inhibition. Changing the meaning of an action is a necessary psychological mechanism of volitional action. So, according to L.M. Wecker, the regulation of behavior and activity can take place at three levels: sensory-perceptual, voluntary and volitional:

1) at the sensory-perceptual level images that regulate movements and actions control the behavior of the subject, regardless of his desire (involuntary);

2) at an arbitrary level actions are regulated consciously and involve intentions, planning, control. Here, actions are performed by the subject himself for a certain motive and do not need volitional regulation, since the components of the personality remain unincluded;

3)volitional regulation arises when a person encounters obstacles, difficulties, external (time, space, physical properties of things) or internal (attitude, fatigue, suffering). At this level, the individual becomes the subject of activity. In this case, a person is forced to create additional motives (meanings of action) and the action is performed not for the sake of the original motive, but for the personal values ​​of a person or other people. Thus, volitional regulation is a connection to immediate motives that are personally significant, more often moral. The more moral a person is, the easier it is for him to strong-willed actions.

Volitional regulation is the highest level of regulation, which is a kind of arbitrary regulation, a special form of its manifestation. This point of view is shared by V.A. Ivannikov, L.M. Wecker and others.

Currently, the most promising is the systematic study of the processes involved in the regulation of human activity and behavior, mastering oneself (K.A. Abdulkhanov-va-Slavskaya, O.A. Konopkin, V.K. Kalin, T.I. Shulga and etc.).

Volitional regulation as the highest level of arbitrary regulation is aimed at improving a person’s activity and behavior, and ultimately at changing his personality, that is, volitional regulation, on the one hand, is aimed at changing the results of a particular activity, and on the other hand, at self-change. The functional structure of the process of volitional regulation consists of three components: 1) a motivational and incentive link (goal, motives); 2) the performing link (methods of action and behavior, both external, proposed by someone, and internal, developed by oneself; 3) evaluative-effective link (the results of actions and the results of the subject's self-change).

Volitional regulation - the highest level of voluntary regulation. It is characterized by intention, purposefulness, awareness, decision-making coming from the subject. Volitional regulation is realized in the conditions of overcoming subjective and objective difficulties, changes in the motivational and incentive sphere of activity and is aimed at improving the subject's behavior, activity and his own personality.

Actions are arbitrary - actions performed with a goal, freely chosen, conscious and motivated.

Actions are involuntary- actions performed without setting a goal, unconscious, performed under the influence of perception.

Actions impulsive- an action “launched” by a stimulus, performed instantly, without thinking, it is short-term and often unmotivated.

Volitional actions- actions characterized by the following features: a) having a purposeful character; b) the goal is realized (reflected in the second signal system, that is, indicated by specific words); c) external (internal) difficulties are overcome on the way to the goal.

The will performs four functions.

1. Incentive and guiding to achieve the goal while overcoming difficulties. Volitional activity is characterized by over-situation, that is, going beyond the original goals, the requirements of the situation.

2. The inhibitory function of the will is manifested in the containment of unwanted activity, motives and actions that do not correspond to the worldview, ideals and beliefs of the individual.

3. Regulatory function is expressed in arbitrary, conscious regulation of actions, mental processes and behavior, in overcoming obstacles.

4. The developing function consists in the fact that volitional regulation is aimed at improving by the subject of his behavior, activities, at changing his own personality.

Mechanisms

Volitional activity is connected with the balance of excitation and inhibition. With a weakening of the process of excitation, apathy occurs in a person, with a dulling of the process of inhibition, greater activity develops. The mechanism of volitional action functions on the basis of the first and second signal systems. On the basis of temporary connections between various centers of the cerebral cortex, a wide variety of associations and their systems are formed and fixed, which creates the conditions for purposeful behavior. The regulator of volitional activity is the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. In them, the result achieved at each given moment is compared with a previously compiled program. The function of regulation is performed by special pyramidal cells of the brain. When these cells are damaged, paralysis or awkwardness of movements occurs, skills are lost.

The structure of the act of will

1. Motivation to action (needs, motives).

2. Obstacle and struggle of motives (connection of other motives - personal values). The struggle of motives can continue for a long time, or the action stops due to a lack of proper motivation.

3. Making a decision.

4. Execution of an action accompanied by an effort of will. This step may also be quite long or not be performed at all.

5. Reflection (self-control, self-esteem).

6. The volitional action ends with the pleasure of its successful implementation or the extraction of a “lesson” if it did not achieve the desired result. In any case, as a result of an act of will, personality develops.

How the subject evaluates the result of a volitional action depends on the type of control (locus of control) that has developed in the personality.

Locus- the location of something.

Locus of control(internal - internal) - a stable quality of a person, expressed in the acceptance by a person of responsibility for his actions and events occurring with him, explaining them with his behavior, mistakes, etc.

Locus of control(external - external) - a stable tendency of a person to attribute responsibility for everything that happens to her to external factors (accidents, circumstances and

Reflection(lat. reflexio - reflection, reversal) - internal mental activity of a person, aimed at comprehending one's own actions and states; self-knowledge by a person of his spiritual world.

Theories of will

Mention of the will can be found in Aristotle. One of the well-known theories of will in the philosophy of the XIX century. was voluntarism. Voluntarists (Schopenhauer, Akh, and others) considered the will to be a special supranatural force that determines the course of mental processes and the free choice of behavior. They understood the will as absolute freedom, not connected with society. Representatives of another mechanistic theory of will (C. Lombroso and others) completely denied the freedom of the will of man and believed that the will depends entirely on the circumstances in which the person is (man is a weak-willed toy of nature). In recent years, a concept has been developed according to which human behavior is understood as initially active, capable of independently choosing forms of behavior that are adequate to the laws of nature and society that he has learned, as well as to his own personal meaning (Frankl, Rubinstein, Ivannikov, etc.).

Properties and patterns

Will has certain qualities: strength, stability and breadth.

Willpower - the degree of excitation of volitional effort.

The stability of the will is the constancy of manifestation in situations of the same type.

The breadth of the will - the number of activities (sports, study, work, etc.) in which the will manifests itself.

The will is inextricably linked with the personality and manifests itself in its qualities. One of the classifications (V.A. Ivannikov) distinguishes three blocks of volitional qualities of a person:

1) moral and volitional qualities (responsibility, commitment, vigor, initiative, independence, discipline);

2) emotional-volitional (purposefulness, endurance, patience, calmness;

3) actually volitional (courage, courage, determination, perseverance).

Responsibility - external or internal control over activities, reflecting the social, moral and legal attitude towards society, expressed in the implementation of accepted moral and legal norms and rules, one's duty.

obligatory(dutifulness) - the quality of the will, manifested in the precise, rigorous and systematic execution of the decisions made.

Initiative - the ability to make attempts to implement the ideas that have arisen in a person.

Independence- the ability to consciously make decisions and the ability not to be influenced by various factors that impede the achievement of the set goal, the ability to critically evaluate the advice and suggestions of other people, act on the basis of one's views and beliefs and at the same time make adjustments to one's actions based on the advice received.

Discipline - conscious subordination of one's behavior to social norms, the established order.

purposefulness - conscious and active orientation of the individual to achieve a certain result of activity.

Excerpt(self-control) - the ability to restrain one's feelings when required, to prevent impulsive and thoughtless actions, the ability to control oneself and force oneself to perform the intended action, and also to refrain from what one wants to do, but which seems unreasonable or wrong.

Courage - the ability to overcome fear and take justified risks in order to achieve the goal, despite the dangers to personal well-being.

Courage- a high degree of self-control, which is clearly manifested in difficult and dangerous circumstances, in the struggle with unusual difficulties. Courage is a complex quality. It implies courage, endurance and perseverance.

Determination- the absence of unnecessary hesitation and doubt in the struggle of motives, timely and quick decision-making. An example of the opposite quality - indecision - is the situation of "Buridan's donkey", which, not daring to eat one of the equal armfuls of hay, died of hunger.

persistence- the ability of a person to mobilize his capabilities for a long struggle with difficulties. Not to be confused with stubbornness and negativism.

Negativism- unmotivated, unreasonable tendency to act contrary to other people, to contradict them, although reasonable considerations do not give grounds for such actions.

Stubbornness - a stubborn person always tries to insist on his own, despite the inexpediency of this action, is guided not by the arguments of reason, but by personal Desires, despite their failure.

Development

Studies by domestic psychologists have shown that already in the first year of life, voluntary movements begin to form, and from the second year of life, the child's behavior is determined not only by the current situation, but also by the imagined one (the first stage of development of the will). In two or three years, the regulatory function of speech develops. From the age of two or two and a half, children begin to act on the basis of the subordination of a motive (L.I. Bozhovich). The ability to overcome immediate desires, subjugate motives and establish the relation of motive to goal is manifested only in the presence of external means, the role of which is most often the very presence of an adult or other children, as well as the corresponding objects, while the greatest motive force remains nevertheless for game motives. It is shown that already at the age of four, control over one's actions develops, and violation of the rules of behavior by other people is noticed from the age of three. Studies of volitional regulation of schoolchildren (T.I. Shulga) showed that:

The formation of the motivational and incentive link of volitional regulation in the age aspect is characterized by an increase in the strength of the motive and goals, independence, awareness and restructuring of the motivational sphere. These indicators are most pronounced in primary school age;

The formation of the executive level is characterized by the expansion with age (especially in adolescence) of the range of methods of self-government used, the predominance of self-developed ones among them. They become more flexible and adequate to the requirements of situations;

The evaluative-productive link increases with age in all spheres of life, and the results of self-change become more pronounced. The sensitive period for the formation of this link of volitional regulation is senior school age.

The development of volitional regulation is primarily associated with the formation of a rich motivational and semantic sphere of personality.

Violations

One of the most important violations of the volitional sphere is a violation of the structure of the hierarchy of motives. . Another violation is the formation of pathological needs and motives.

(B.V. Zeigarnik). These disorders are manifested by various symptoms: a decrease in volitional processes (hypobulia) or excessive activity (hyperbulia). Symptoms of hypobulia can be very diverse. The most common violations of the will: apathy, abulia (anorexia, bulimia), a symptom of autism, hyperbulia.

Apathy(Greek apatheia - dispassion) - a mental state, manifested in the loss of interest, indifference to the environment, a drop in the activity of the psyche.

Abulia- violation of the will, partial or complete lack of desire and motivation for activity (anorexia, bulimia, etc.).

Anorexia- lack of appetite, suppression of the desire to eat.

bulimia- a pathological desire to eat constantly, often and a lot.

Hyperbulia- violation of behavior in the form of motor disinhibition (excitation) (impulsive, stereotypical actions, etc.).

autism a symptom is the loss of the patient's need to communicate with others, the formation of pathological isolation, isolation, unsociableness.

Individual characteristics

People differ from each other: in willpower, in the form of manifestation of which, etc. A dependence of willpower on the type of nervous system has been established (the willpower of the streets with a strong nervous system is more developed). Individual differences are also manifested in the degree of formation of the volitional qualities of the individual.

STUDY METHODS

experimental

As an example of an experimental study of the will, let us cite the study of volitional effort in intellectual activity using the "Unsolvable Problems" methodology. Children of preschool and primary school age were asked to collect three pictures. The first picture consisted of one object, divided into several (4-6) parts and was relatively easy to assemble. The second picture consisted of two objects - large and small (also divided into 4-6 parts); this picture was also assembled by the children easily and fairly quickly, but it required some consideration, reasoning to assemble it. Finally, the children were asked to assemble a picture, also consisting of two objects and divided into 4-6 parts, which had no solution - according to the design of the experiment, one of the parts was missing. The time for completing all three tasks was recorded, as well as the behavior of children and an explanation of the reasons for refusing to work when manipulating the third picture.

Diagnostic

To measure volitional effort in physical activity, the technique is used "Dynamometry" (I.I. Kuptsov).

To study the level of development of volitional qualities, the method is used "Expert Assessments" where the experts evaluate various characteristics of the subjects' actions (the duration of the task solution, the number of attempts, the concentration of efforts, the presence of fluctuations in the decision-making process).

Methodology for diagnostics of the level of subjective control (SC) and many others.

Will Functions

Thus, volitional processes perform three main functions:

• § initiating, or incentive, providing the beginning of this or that action in order to overcome the emerging obstacles;
• § stabilizing associated with volitional efforts to maintain activity at the proper level in the event of external and internal interference;
• § brake which is to restrain other, often strong desires that are not consistent with the main goals of the activity.

act of will

The most important place in the problem of will is occupied by the concept of "volitional act". Each volitional act has a certain content, the most important components of which are decision-making and its execution. These elements of a volitional act often cause significant mental stress, similar in nature to a state of stress.

The following main components are distinguished in the structure of a volitional act:

• § motivation to commit a volitional action, caused by a particular need. Moreover, the degree of awareness of this need can be different: from a vaguely realized attraction to a clearly realized goal;
• § the presence of one or more motives and the establishment of the order of their implementation:
• § "struggle of motives" in the process of choosing one or another of conflicting motives;
• § making a decision in the process of choosing one or another variant of behavior. At this stage, either a feeling of relief or a state of anxiety associated with uncertainty about the correctness of the decision may arise;
• § implementation of the adopted decision, the implementation of one or another variant of actions.

At each of these stages of a volitional act, a person shows will, controls and corrects his actions. At each of these moments, he compares the result obtained with the ideal image of the goal that was created in advance.

In volitional actions, the personality of a person, its main features, are clearly manifested.

Will manifests itself in such personality traits as:

• § purposefulness;
• § independence;
• § decisiveness;
• § persistence;
• § excerpt;
• § self-control;

Each of these properties is opposed by opposite character traits, in which lack of will is expressed, i.e. lack of one's own will and submission to someone else's will.

The most important volitional property of a person is purposefulness as a person's ability to achieve their life goals.

Independence manifests itself in the ability to perform actions and make decisions based on internal motivation and one's own knowledge, skills and abilities. A dependent person is focused on subordinating to another person, on shifting responsibility for his actions.

Determination It is expressed in the ability to make a well-considered decision in a timely manner and without hesitation and put it into practice. The actions of a decisive person are characterized by thoughtfulness and speed, courage, confidence in their actions. The opposite of decisiveness is indecision. A person characterized by indecision constantly doubts, hesitates in making decisions and using the chosen methods of decision. An indecisive person, even having made a decision, begins to doubt again, waits for what others will do.

Endurance and self-control there is the ability to control oneself, one's actions and the external manifestation of emotions, constantly control them, even with failures and big failures. The opposite of endurance is the inability to restrain oneself, which is caused by the lack of special education and self-education.

persistence It is expressed in the ability to achieve the set goal, overcoming difficulties on the way to its achievement. A persistent person does not deviate from the decision made, and in case of failures, he acts with redoubled energy. A person deprived of perseverance, at the first failure, deviates from the decision made.

Discipline means the conscious submission of one's behavior to certain norms and requirements. Discipline manifests itself in various forms, both in behavior and in thinking, and is the opposite of indiscipline.

Courage and boldness are manifested in the readiness and ability to fight, to overcome difficulties and dangers on the way to achieving the goal, in the readiness to defend one's life position. Courage is opposed to such a quality as cowardice, usually caused by fear.

The formation of the listed volitional properties of the personality is determined mainly by the purposeful education of the will, which should be inseparable from the education of feelings.

B) In psychology, the term behavior is used to refer to the type and level of human activity. Initially, behavior was understood as any externally observed reactions of an individual (motor, vegetative, speech), functioning according to the "stimulus - reaction" scheme.

The current understanding of behavior goes beyond responses to external stimuli. In addition to external human activity (movements, actions, deeds, statements, vegetative reactions), there are also internal components of behavior: motivation and goal setting, cognitive processing, emotional reactions, self-regulation processes. Behavior is the process of interaction between the individual and the environment, mediated by individual characteristics and internal activity of the individual, expressed in the form of external actions and deeds.

Human behavior is formed and implemented in society and is associated with speech regulation and goal setting. In general, the behavior of an individual reflects the process of its socialization - integration into society. Socialization, in turn, involves adaptation to the social environment, taking into account individual characteristics. We can distinguish the following options for social adaptation (according to Zmanovskaya): - radical adaptation - self-realization through a change by the personality of the existing social world; - hyperadaptation - self-realization through the influence of the individual on social life through its super-achievements; - harmonious adaptation - self-realization of the individual in society by focusing on social requirements; - conformist adaptation - adaptation due to the suppression of individuality, blocking self-realization; - deviant adaptation - self-realization by going beyond existing social requirements (norms) - socio-psychological maladaptation - a state of blocking the processes of self-realization and adaptation.

With any variant of socialization, the behavior of a particular person can be described using the general characteristics of behavior: - motivation - internal readiness to act guided by the needs and goals of the individual; - adequacy - consistency with a specific situation; - adaptability - compliance with the leading requirements of the social environment; - authenticity - the conformity of the behavior of the individual, its naturalness for this individual; - productivity - the realization of conscious goals;

Also no less important are such signs of personality behavior as: - the level of activity (energy and initiative) - emotional expressiveness (the strength and nature of the manifested affects); - dynamism (tempo); - stability (constancy of manifestations at different times and in different situations); - awareness (understanding of one's behavior); - arbitrariness (self-control); - flexibility (change of behavior in response to changes in the environment).

will behavior criminal

Criminal behavior- this is the behavior of a person who is aware of his actions and is able to manage them, as a result of which a criminal act is committed.

Criminal behavior by its nature coincides with a crime in the criminal law sense. This is also indicated by Yu.M. Antonyan: "it is customary to think that criminal behavior is a broader concept than a crime. This is a delusion, since both terms imply the same phenomenon of social life. The difference between them is only that the first one describes and evaluates it from legal, and the second - from criminological, more precisely criminological and psychological positions.

Will -this is a conscious regulation by a person of his actions and deeds that require overcoming internal and external difficulties on the way to the intended goal.

Will is not an isolated property of the human psyche. It is present in many acts of human behavior as a conscious regulation, a conscious application of physical and mental forces for the realization of a consciously set goal. Therefore, will is one of the most important conditions of human activity.

Will provides two interconnected functions - motivating (activating)- this is a conscious direction of mental and physical efforts to overcome difficulties and achieve goals; and brake- this is the containment of an undesirable manifestation of activity (refusal of something).

The will ensures the fulfillment of two interrelated functions - stimulating and inhibitory, and manifests itself in them.

incentive function provided by human activity. In contrast to reactivity, when an action is conditioned by a previous situation (a person turns around at a call, hits a ball thrown in a game, takes offense at a rude word, etc.), activity generates an action due to the specifics of the subject’s internal states that are revealed at the moment of the action itself (a person , in need of obtaining the necessary information, calls out to a friend, experiencing a state of irritation, allows himself to be rude to others, etc.).

In contrast to field behavior, which is distinguished by unintentionality, activity is characterized by arbitrariness, i.e., the conditionality of the action by a consciously set goal. Activity may not be caused by the requirements of a momentary situation, the desire to adapt to it, to act within the boundaries of a given one, it is characterized by supra-situational, i.e. going beyond the original goals, the ability of a person to rise above the level of the requirements of the situation, set goals that are excessive in relation to the original task (such as “risk for the sake of risk”, creative impulse, etc.).

One of the manifestations of a person’s social activity, what can be called his active civic position, is “excessive activity”, i.e., his activity, the implementation of which is not strictly obligatory for the actor (no one can reproach him if he does not fulfill it), but the implementation of which meets social expectations.

One more feature of volitional processes can be indicated, which acts as a manifestation of its incentive function. If a person does not have an actual (“here and now”) need to carry out an action, the objective necessity of which he realizes, the will creates additional impulses that change the meaning of the action, making it more significant, causing experiences associated with the foreseen consequences of the action.

In a state of exhaustion, it can be difficult for a student to muster the strength to go to a gym for training on the other side of the city, but the idea that the overall success of the team and the maintenance of the sports glory of the school depends on how prepared he is as a team captain , mobilizes his will, creating additional motivation to carry out the action.

braking function will, acting in unity with the incentive 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 do not correspond to his worldview, ideals and beliefs. Regulation of behavior would be impossible without inhibition.

Speaking about the style and tone of relationships in the team, A. S. Makarenko especially emphasized the task of developing a “habit of inhibition”. He wrote: “The leadership of a children's institution must constantly develop in pupils the ability to be restrained in movement, in a word, in a cry. This braking should not have the character of a drill; it should be logically justified by the direct benefit for the organism of its pupil, aesthetic ideas and conveniences for the entire team. A special form of inhibition is politeness, which must be strongly recommended at every opportunity and demanded to be observed.

A person's motives for action form a certain ordered system - a hierarchy of motives - from the needs for food, clothing, shelter from heat and cold to higher motives associated with the experience of moral, aesthetic and intellectual feelings. In the event that, in the name of higher motives, lower ones, including vital ones, are inhibited and restrained, this happens due to manifestations of the will. And in everyday life, to restrain the manifestation of one's feelings, to complete the work begun despite any difficulties, to resist the temptation to quit everything and do something more attractive - perhaps with a sufficiently strong will.

In their unity, the motivating and inhibitory functions of the will provide the individual with overcoming difficulties on the way to achieving the goal.

Will- one of the most complex concepts in psychology. Will is considered both as an independent mental process, and as an aspect of other major mental phenomena, and as a unique ability of a person to arbitrarily control his behavior.

Will is a person's conscious overcoming of difficulties on the way to the goal. Faced with obstacles, a person either refuses to act in the chosen direction, or increases efforts. to overcome the difficulties encountered.

The will manifests itself in two interconnected functions - stimulating and inhibitory.

stimulating function is provided by human activity. Activity gives rise to action due to the specifics of a person’s internal states that arise at the moment of the action itself (a person who needs support during his speech calls on like-minded people to speak out; being in deep sadness, a person complains about everyone around him, etc.).

brake the function is manifested in the containment of undesirable manifestations of activity. This function most often acts in unity with the stimulating one. A person is able to inhibit the emergence of undesirable motives, the performance of actions, behavior that contradict the ideas of a model, a standard, and the implementation of which may call into question or damage the authority of the individual.

6. Structure and content of volitional action. The phenomenon of "struggle of motives" in volitional action.

Will- this is a conscious overcoming of difficulties by a person on the way to the goal. Faced with obstacles, a person either refuses to act in the chosen direction, or increases efforts. to overcome the difficulties encountered.

Volitional activity consists of certain actions, which contain all the signs and qualities of the will. They are simple and complex.

To simple include those when a person goes without hesitation to the intended goal and it is clear to him what and how he will achieve. In this case, the choice of a goal, the decision to perform an action in a certain way does not imply a struggle of motives.

AT complex Volitional action is divided into the following stages:

Awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it; awareness of the possibilities to achieve the goal; the appearance of motives confirming or denying these possibilities; struggle of motives and choice; accepting one of the possibilities as a solution; implementation of the decision; overcoming external obstacles and achieving the goal.

The stage of "awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it" is not always accompanied by a struggle of motives in a complex action. If the goal is set from the outside and its achievement is obligatory for the performer, then it remains only to cognize it, having formed in oneself a certain image of the future result of the action. The struggle of motives arises at this stage when a person has the opportunity to choose goals, at least the order of their achievement. Each of the motives, before becoming a goal, goes through the stage of desire (in the case when the goal is chosen independently). Desire is the ideally existing (in a person’s head) content of needs .. Since a person at any moment has various significant desires, the simultaneous satisfaction of which is objectively excluded, then there is a clash of opposing, mismatched motives, between which a choice has to be made. This situation is called struggle of motives. At the stage of realizing the goal and striving to achieve it, the struggle of motives is resolved by choosing the goal of the action, after which the tension caused by the struggle of motives at this stage weakens. The stage "realization of a number of possibilities for achieving the goal" is actually a mental action, which is part of a volitional action, the result of which is the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships between the ways of performing a volitional action under existing conditions and possible results. The stage of the struggle between motives and choice turns out to be central in a complex volitional action. Here, as at the stage of choosing a goal, a conflict situation is possible, connected with the fact that a person accepts the possibility of an easy way to achieve a goal, but at the same time, due to his moral feelings or principles, he cannot accept it. Other ways are less economical (and this is also understood by a person), but following them is more in line with a person's value system. The result of resolving this situation is the next stage - the adoption of one of the possibilities as a solution. It is characterized by a drop in tension as the internal conflict is resolved. Here the means, methods, sequence of their use are specified, i.e. detailed planning is being carried out. After that, the implementation of the decision planned at the implementation stage begins. The stage of implementation of the decision, however, does not relieve a person from the need to make strong-willed efforts, and sometimes no less significant than when choosing the goal of an action or methods for its implementation, since the practical implementation of the intended goal is again associated with overcoming obstacles. The results of any volitional action have two consequences for a person: the first is the achievement of a specific goal; the second is connected with the fact that a person evaluates his actions and draws appropriate lessons for the future regarding the ways to achieve the goal, the efforts expended.

Will provides purposefulness and orderliness of human activity. But the definition of S.R. Rubinshtein, “A volitional action is a conscious, purposeful action by which a person achieves the goal set for him, subordinating his impulses to conscious control and changing the surrounding reality in accordance with his plan.”

Will as a person's ability to self-regulate makes him relatively free from external circumstances, truly turns him into an active subject.