Volition (psychology)

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Volition describes the conscious, deliberate conversion of goals and motives into results (results) through the targeted control of thoughts, emotions, motives and actions. This process of self-control requires overcoming internal and external obstacles such as feelings of discomfort or distractions through willpower .

Origin of the term

At the beginning of the last century, Kurt Lewin (1929) and Narziss Ach (1935) described the form of motivation as “volition” , which relates to the pursuit of goals ( psychology of will ). Kurt Lewin's writings led to the preliminary end of research on will psychology, as Lewin conceptually equated motivation (Lewin: "need") and intention (Lewin: "quasi-need").

With the discovery of readiness potential by the physiologist Hans Helmut Kornhuber in 1965 and the development of one of the first instruments for measuring volitional self-regulation or self-regulation (so-called self-regulation inventory) by Frederick Kanfer in 1970 and Albert Bandura in 1991, the The distinction between motivation and volition creates a new, empirically and scientifically sound basis. Another starting point for the development of the topic were impulses from cybernetic systems theory .

The work of Heinz Heckhausen , Peter M. Gollwitzer , Julius Kuhl and Thomas Goschke contributed to the spread of the topic in the German-speaking area . With reference to volition research in integrative therapy, Hilarion Petzold has made the will issue a treatment focus. Frederick Kanfer developed self-management therapy on this basis . Even Klaus Grawe handle this issue on in his "Psychological Psychotherapy". The fundamental works of Paul Karoly as well as Carver and Scheier should also be mentioned.

In Heinz Heckhausen's Rubicon model of the phases of action , the phases of planning and acting are called volitional phases. The critical difference between motivation and volition is made in such a way that motivation influences goal setting (i.e. which goal a person chooses), while volition is the driving force towards goal setting (i.e. which strategies the person chooses and what efforts they invest ready). The model of the action phases is considered to be outdated due to more recent findings in neurology.

Differentiation from motivation

Volition: The connection between volition and motivation

The concept of volition is based on the paradigm of self -regulation ( self-regulation ). It is illustrated by the graphic opposite, which at the same time makes a reference to the more recent motivational theory . According to Joseph LeDoux , motivation is “merely” the pursuit of goals or target objects. Further self-control processes are necessary to implement (realize) goals. Fundamental work on this comes from, among others, Narziss Ach , Hans Helmut Kornhuber , Albert Bandura , Paul Karoly and Frederick Kanfer . In addition, there are current findings that have been published in the anthologies of Roy Baumeister and Rick Hoyle, among others. Patrick Haggard made an important contribution to the neuroscientific foundation.

application areas

The findings from volition research are applied in many areas such as medicine (will to adhere to therapy plans), in competitive sports (willpower), in education, in management theory and in marketing. Further examples of possible applications are:

practice

The possible applications of basic research in volitional psychology are discussed in the field of education, among other things. The Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences at the FernUniversität in Hagen tries to use findings from volition research to motivate distance students . An online questionnaire with individual feedback was developed to support schoolchildren and students in their learning behavior and at the same time serve for research. The questionnaire is supplemented by a compact strategy manual. Research on popular psychology, particularly in the United States, has produced a wealth of practical applications. These range from addiction therapy (alcohol, smoking, drugs, gambling addiction, waste of money) to the fight against crime and the creation of interpersonal relationships (conflicts) to general life satisfaction (coping with emotionally stressful situations). Further practical application possibilities can be found in management theory - see Volition (Management) . Various so-called self-control inventories have been developed to measure volitional competencies. Examples for the clinical area are the inventory by Kuhl and Fuhrmann and the further developed Self Management Scale by Peter Mezo or, especially in organizational psychology and in management theory for specialists and executives, the Giessen inventory of implementation skills.

literature

  • N. Oh: Analysis of the will. (= Handbook of biological working methods. Dept. 6). Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin 1935.
  • Roy Baumeister , John Tierney: The Power of Discipline. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-593-39360-5 . (American original title: Willpower. Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin Book Press, New York 2011)
  • RF Baumeister, KD Vohs: Handbook of Self-Regulation. New York 2004.
  • JP Forgas et al. (Ed.): Psychology of Self-Regulation. New York 2009.
  • D. Hartmann : Philosophical foundations of psychology. WBG, Darmstadt 1998. (PDF file; 17.1 MB)
  • H. Heckhausen : Motivation and Action. Springer, Heidelberg 1980
  • P. Karoly: Mechanisms of Self-Regulation: A Systems View. In: Annual Review of Psychology. Vol. 44, 1993, pp. 23-52.
  • J. Keller: An Integrative Theory of Motivation, Volition, and Performance. In: Cognition and Learning. Vol. 6, 2008.
  • J. Kuhl: Motivation, Conflict and Action Control. Springer, Heidelberg 1983.
  • J. Kuhl, A. Fuhrmann: Decomposing Self-Regulation and Self-Control: The Volitional Competencies Inventory. In: J. Heckhausen, CS Dweck (Ed.): Motivation and Self-Regulation Across the Life Span. Cambridge 1998.
  • K. Lewin : Resolution, Will and Need. Studies on action and affect psychology. In: Psychological Research. 4, 1926, pp. 1-39.
  • PG Mezo: The Self-Control and Self-Management Scale (SCMS): Development of an Adaptive Self-Regulatory Coping Skills Instrument. In: Journ. Psychological Behav. Assess. 31, Issue 2, 2009, pp. 83–93, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9104-2 .
  • HG Petzold, J. Sieper (2003): Will and Will. Psychological models and concepts. 2 vols. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • HG Petzold, J. Sieper (2008): The will, the neurobiology and the psychotherapy. 2 vols. Bielefeld: Aisthesis, Sirius.
  • HG Petzold (ed.): Will and Will. Psychological models and concepts. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001
  • K. Sokolowski: Sequential and imperative concepts of the will . In: Psychological Contributions. 39, 1997, pp. 339-369. (PDF file; 265 kB)
  • Brian Tracy : No excuses! The power of self-discipline. Gabal, Offenbach 2011, ISBN 978-3-86936-235-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Brockhaus Psychology. 2nd Edition. Mannheim 2009; Roy Baumeister, John Tierny: Willpower - Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. The Penguin Press, New York 2011; Heike Bruch , Sumantra Ghoshal: Leading and acting with determination. Wiesbaden 2006; Waldemar Pelz: Volition (willpower), accessed on November 12, 2017 .
  2. PG Mezo: The self-control and self-management scale (SCMS): Development of an adaptive self-regulatory skills comping instrument. In: Journal of Behavior Assessment. Vol. 31, 2009.
  3. ^ CS Carver: Self-Regulation of Action and Affect. In: RR Baumeister, KD Vohs: Handbook of Self-Regulation. New York 2004.
  4. J. Keller: An Integrative Theory of Motivation, Volition, and Performance. In: Cognition and Learning. Vol. 6, 2008, pp. 79-104.
  5. ^ P. Karoly: Mechanisms of Self-Regulation: A Systems View. In: Annual Review of Psychology. Vol. 44, 1993, pp. 23-52.
  6. CS Carver, M. Scheier, F .: Attention and Self-regulation: A Control Theory Approach to Human Behavior. New York 1981.
  7. See among others: P. Haggard: Human volition: towards a neuroscience of will. In: Nature Reviews Neuroscience . Vol. 9, 2008 and R. Klinke, H.-C. Pape, S. Silbernagl (Ed.): Physiology. 5th edition. Stuttgart / New York 2005, p. 812 f. and JP Forgas et al. (Ed.): Psychology of Self-Regulation. New York 2009.
  8. Joseph Ledoux: The network of personality. Düsseldorf 2006, p. 338 f. and Mark Bear, Barry Connors, Michael Paradiso: Neurosciences. 3. Edition. Heidelberg 2009, p. 571 f.
  9. T. Baumeister, K. Vohs: Handbook of Self-Regulation. The Guilford Press, New York 2004; RF Baumeister, J. Tierny: Willpower, Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. The Penguin Press, London 2011.
  10. R. Hoyle: Handbook of Personality and Self-Regulation. Blackwell, 2010.
  11. P. Haggard: Human volition: towards a neuroscience of will. In: Nature Reviews Neuroscience. Vol. 9, 2008.
  12. K. McGonigal: The Willpower Instinct, How Self-Control Works. Pearson, 2012.
  13. ^ H. Laux: Sustainable learning in primary schools. Volunteering as a way to improve learning. In: Pedagogical Review. 58, 2004, pp. 171-188.
  14. ^ M. Deimann, JM Keller: Volitional aspects of multimedia learning. In: Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. 15 (2), 2006, pp. 137-158.
  15. Research report on Volitional Transfer Support (VTU) ( Memento from July 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  16. The Volitional Individual Test (VPT) available online for processing ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ksw-ifbm.fernuni-hagen.de
  17. M. Deimann, B. Weber: Strategy manual for volitional transfer support. Apertus, Heidelberg 2008.
  18. W. Mischel, O. Ayduk: Willpower in a Cognitive Processing System. In: RF Baumeister, KD Vohs: Handbook of Self-Regulation. New York 2004.
  19. ^ J. Kuhl, A. Fuhrmann: Decomposing Self-Regulation and Self-Control: The Volitional Components Inventory. In: J. Heckhausen, CS Dweck: Motivation and Self-Regulation Across the Life Span. Cambridge (UK) 1998.
  20. PG Mezo: The Self-Control and Self-Management Scale (SCMS): Development of an Adaptive Self-Regulatory Coping Skills Instrument. In: J. Psychological Behav. Assess. 31, 2009, pp. 83-93.
  21. Waldemar Pelz: Implementation skills as key skills for leaders. In: Corinna von Au (ed.): Leadership and applied psychology. Springer Verlag, Berlin 2017, available online