Will: psychology informed choice

concept "will" psychology considers ambiguous, and during different historical periods, it means the different phenomena.

In very general terms will be perceived as property rights, which allows him to consciously control our thoughts and actions.Based on this understanding, it can be considered one of the most important properties in the manifestation of which the human mind is capable of not if it puts the brightest delimiting line between animal and man?If the first led by his instincts, the latter are able to suppress them by force of will.

concept in psychology will

So, as we put it, there are several models of understanding will.Modern psychology holds that the human will is the ability to consciously reach their goal, and among the basic qualities of its manifestation is called courage, determination, perseverance, self-control, independence, and others.

In order to understand the will need a good understanding of what freedombecause these are closely related concepts.

Will in psychology - a concept with a unique history, because his science within this revised three times, which gave rise to three different definitions.

first under the mechanism will understand the kind of actions that were committed by man against his wishes, but, nevertheless, encouraged to mind.

then will become perceived as a struggle of motives that unites it with the problem of choosing the theme.

And in the final stage of evolution of understanding will have defined it as a way to overcome the obstacles that prevent to reach the goal.This definition gives a fairly superficial understanding of the will, because it covers only one facet of its appearance, but in reality there are more: for example, by the will of man can overcome themselves, their desires, their natural needs, although it will not be the goal.There are cases where people have saved the lives of others by donating their intended, and to characterize one of these situations as "overcome difficulties to achieve the objective" is incorrect and incomplete.

most striking historical and religious figure, show the will with a touch of self-sacrifice - Jesus Christ.

It should also be noted that the philosophy is such a thing as "voluntarism".From the Latin, it means "freedom" in which philosophical currents it gave primordial role, the supreme principle of existence.

Will: psychology of behavior "contrary»

It reveals the most interesting part of the mental abilities of the person, we see that a person can not take the facts as they are.Granted can be evaluated negatively by many people, but you need to have sufficiently developed the will to decide to change what is given.Antoine de Saint-Exupery in one of his books told the story of tame gazelles, who grew up in the pen.When the animals have grown up, they began to seek to break free, but whatever they did, it stood at the rail and watched the open spaces.It is a fictional story, but this behavior is peculiar to animals sooner or later they will humble themselves and leave the attempts to act contrary to the situation.Trying to escape from the cage of instinct and attempt to do so because of the belief in something or have a different nature, where in the second case, the word "contrary" is the key, in contrast to the first.

Will: psychology problem of choice

Some philosophers (Spinoza, John. Locke) have tried to make sense of the relationship of will and freedom of choice.John. Locke believed that freedom - the ability to act or not to act, and during an act of man is always subordinate to the need and, therefore, he shared these concepts.Benedict Spinoza, like many ancient thinkers, was closer to the truth - he believed that inner freedom lies in the fact that voluntarily decide to overcome the contradiction between "want" and "there."

Will: psychology control their actions

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

  1. selective attention.It is aimed at the object to be achieved, with all the other elements of the environment are eliminated.
  2. control emotions.There are some emotions that interfere with the desire to implement, and strong-willed person refuses them.
  3. control environment.All that prevents to reach the goal of eliminating the nearest space.

Thus, the will - amazing property rights, without which, perhaps, our evolutionary path would have had a completely different path.