What is “willpower”: concept, 7 main components

Updated July 24, 2021 834 Author: Dmitry Petrov
Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. The concept of “will” originated in the depths of philosophy and means the individual’s ability to moral and physical self-determination.

Subsequently, the concept began to be used in psychology - in its context we will consider it in this article.

What is willpower?

Willpower is the internal energy of a person, which allows you to consciously activate and direct efforts to solve certain problems and implement plans, regardless of the availability of strength and desire to work.
The main purpose of willpower is for a person to overcome internal obstacles on the way to his goal. It acts as the ability of an individual, through a conscious effort, to take control of his own behavior and direct all his strength to solving a specific issue, overcoming possible obstacles along the way. It is for this reason that people who are able to overcome difficult life circumstances and all kinds of obstacles are called strong-willed or people with a strong will.

Consequently, strong-willed people can consciously awaken, concentrate and direct their own internal resources, forcing themselves to move in the direction they need. Thus, willpower is understood as the conscious desire of an individual at the right moment and for the right time to activate his internal energy to solve a certain task.

The concept of will in psychology

The structure of a volitional act has the following form:

1. First, a person experiences psychological or physical discomfort - this is an incentive in relation to a subsequent action (for example, there is discomfort in the stomach);
2. Then there is an understanding of my discomfort (the sensations in my stomach tell me that I am hungry) and the emergence of desire (I want to eat). But it happens that awareness does not occur.
3. Then it is customary to talk about attraction : a person wants something, but does not know what exactly. He begins to look for the cause of his feelings until the attraction turns into the status of desire (he stroked his rumbling stomach - it didn’t help, he sang a song to him - there was no result, he saw an appetizing chicken on TV - the sensations intensified and the realization of hunger came);
4. Desire gives rise to purpose (I need food);
5. Making a decision to take action (go to the supermarket for groceries). If at this stage a person has two or more desires, then a collision occurs between them. In psychology, this phenomenon is called the struggle of motives (I want to eat, but I don’t want to go outside because of the heavy rain);
6. And here an act of will - the choice of one of the motives (I decide to take an umbrella and go);
7. This is followed by internal planning (which store I will go to, what I will buy) and external execution of the plan (I get dressed and leave the apartment).

The main components of willpower

Experts studying the described phenomenon have identified seven main components that form willpower. These include:

• Self-discipline , without which it is impossible to achieve any serious results even in simple matters. The development of willpower contributes to the formation of this quality, which helps to correctly prioritize and take control of one’s own actions and thoughts;
• Persistence , since the path to a goal requires finding ways to achieve it, and only persistent people will find them;
• Courage , i.e. the ability to take decisive action at the right time, as well as the ability to take risks or abandon unnecessary risks in time;
• Faith , in this case - faith in yourself and your own strength. If a person is firmly confident in the favorable outcome of his undertaking, then it will be easier for him to achieve a positive result;
• Desires , i.e. those goals that a person strives to achieve. The goal must justify the resources spent on its implementation, then the final result will be expected and desired;
• The ability to endure , since the implementation of a plan, especially a large-scale one, requires enormous patience;
• Independence is one of the most important character traits of a strong-willed person. An independent person knows how to make decisions and take responsibility, without expecting ready-made decisions from strangers.

All of these factors together form a high level of willpower in an individual.

How Willpower Works: Exhaustion Theory

Sometimes when people complain about failure, they are told: “Just take it and show willpower!” It’s easy to say, but difficult to do, especially when you’re already mentally sinking your teeth into a juicy burger or anticipating the bitter-tart taste of a cigarette puff. To understand how self-control works, let's look at the theory of willpower depletion.

, developed by psychology professor
Roy Baumeister
.
He conducted an experiment where he influenced one of the most common human weaknesses - a passion for sweets.
The subjects were placed in a room filled with the smell of fragrant fresh cookies. After this, some volunteers were treated to baked goods, while others were content with radishes. At the end of the meal, the subjects were asked to solve a difficult geometric puzzle. According to the results of the study, it turned out that respondents who ate cookies were willing to spend much more time and attempts to find a solution to the problem than those who ate radishes. Baumeister made a logical conclusion - the self-control of the experimental subjects who received the vegetable was undermined

(they spent an internal resource trying to drive away thoughts about the cookies they never got). Accordingly, they had much less willpower to solve the problem.

The main theses of the theory of willpower depletion

Exhaustion theory essentially suggests that willpower is like a muscle. Training will harden and strengthen it, but excessive stress will cause fatigue

.
At least once in our lives, each of us cut ourselves some slack and said: “I’m weak and weak-willed, I’ll just do it, even though I know I’ll hurt myself.” This is often due to the fact that a person has little resource left for proper self-control
.
Each of us has quite a large reserve of willpower - but not unlimited
. In fact, we use it even when performing tasks that seem easy and mundane: washing the dishes, brushing our teeth, changing clothes. In such cases, the resource is spent in such small quantities that we do not notice it. Unfortunately, truly depleting factors surround us literally at every step, including social interactions. Unwanted visits from relatives, heated arguments with friends, and even toxic behavior from colleagues all reduce our self-control.

At the same time, depletion of willpower and physical fatigue

- are not the same thing, so even a tired person is able to pull himself together and show self-discipline.
But most importantly, willpower can be trained
- just as we train muscles - and then this resource will be more difficult to deplete.

How does lack of willpower manifest itself?

Is it possible to find out if you are a strong-willed person? Yes, but to do this you need to honestly answer yourself a few questions:

• Have you ever put off until later or done urgently important things?
• Have you ever had to justify failure to fulfill your responsibilities by lack of time or other excuses?
• Are most of your problems still unsolved?
• Do you often get distracted from your work by various little things, such as computer games, communicating on social networks or watching TV series?
• Do you periodically fail to keep your promises to yourself?

If you answered yes to all or almost all of the above questions, then you can work a little on developing willpower.

Two ways to strengthen willpower

1. Cultivate your will. To strengthen muscles, we put stress on them, and they become tired, and when they recover, they become stronger. Willpower is trained according to the same principle: take charge of your health, try to organize your thoughts and become more collected.
2. Use power wisely. Willpower - especially. Sometimes it is better to go around the mountain than to climb it. Likewise, most everyday tasks actually require less effort than it seems at first glance.

So, if you are someone who wants to take self-control to the next level, we will continue to introduce you to tools designed to make your willpower stronger than diamond claws.

How to develop willpower?

So, let's move on directly to developing willpower. Fortunately, this character trait is not innate, but can be developed; in particular, there are seven fairly simple ways to develop this quality:

1. Set specific goals

To direct your willpower to achieve what you want, you must firmly decide what exactly you want. In cases where the goals set are thorough and serious (for example, mastering a foreign language or a new profession), it makes sense to draw up a detailed plan with specific steps and time frames, and then consistently and clearly follow each of its points.

You shouldn’t waste your energy by setting several goals at once; you simply won’t have enough strength to achieve them. To begin with, it is better to choose one specific goal, the achievement of which will give you confidence in your own abilities and motivate you to new achievements.

Volitional qualities of a person

For a more precise understanding of what will is, let us outline its main features, which are also called volitional qualities:

1. Determination is a person’s ability to set a specific goal and actively strive to achieve it.
2. Decisiveness is immediate but deliberate action that implements the decision made.
3. Perseverance is an internal quality that simultaneously strengthens the will. This is following the intended plan, despite obstacles and defeats.
4. Self-discipline is conscious submission to established requirements, norms and rules.
5. Self-control is the ability to control your emotional and behavioral manifestations.
6. Courage is the willingness to overcome the fears that often accompany achieving a goal.
7. Independence is the ability to rely on one’s knowledge, principles, values ​​and take responsibility for one’s actions.

These qualities are inherent mainly in adults, mature people, but not in everyone. Many, being great uncles and aunts, continue to be childishly infantile: they are afraid to make decisions, throwing responsibility for their lives onto stronger, strong-willed people around them.

Why our grandparents were more disciplined than us

One of the most shocking discoveries about willpower is this: willpower is like a muscle that gets tired when overused.
Roy Baumeister conducted many experiments in which he asked people to exercise willpower in controlled laboratory conditions (refuse cake, hide their anger, hold their hands in ice water, etc.). It turned out that the details of these requirements did not matter much: people who had to use their willpower experienced a weakening of their ability to control themselves. This was expressed in different ways: those who were asked to control their emotions were more likely to buy unnecessary things, giving up sweets led to procrastination, and so on. In the end, Baumeister came to the conclusion that willpower becomes depleted during use.

Moreover, research has shown that there are many factors that can deplete willpower, some of which we would never have thought of. Sitting in a boring meeting, trying to impress on a date, or being in the wrong workspace can all drain your willpower. Every time you are forced to restrain an impulse or make a decision—no matter how mundane—you are using your “willpower muscle” and therefore depleting the corresponding reserves.

Kathleen Vaughns, assistant professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, notes:

There is research that shows that people's levels of self-control are the same as they were decades ago, but we are bombarded with more and more temptations. Our psychology is not designed to deal with all of our current potential pleasures.

We could look at people from previous generations and admire their self-discipline.
As a martial artist, I remember reading stories about past masters and beating myself up for not practicing the same technique for hours, day after day, like they did. But it seems that the reason that our generation is not as diligent as its predecessors is not at all a weakness of character, but environmental irritants. Would these martial artists be as dedicated to their craft if they had access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? I'm afraid we will never get an answer to this question.

[edit] Examples

Examples of manifestations of willpower:

• a person follows a diet, while his desires are to eat well and densely,
• the alcoholic stops drinking, while his desires are to get properly drunk,
• a person with a sweet tooth gives up sweets or begins to consume them an order of magnitude less,
• the smoker refuses further smoking,
• a person washes under a cold shower or dives into an ice hole,
• a person plays sports when he doesn’t want to,
• a person works at a job that is not interesting to him,
• a person refuses meat, although he really wants to eat it,
• a person endures bullying.

Effect of neurotransmitters

It turns out that willpower is affected by the work of two neurotransmitters: one of which is dopamine, the other is serotonin. Under their power is such an emotion as pleasure, or rather its anticipation. With the coordinated work of two neurotransmitters, a person is able to control the process of regulating willpower . But if he suddenly feels unsatisfied, he will try to fill this gap by any means. It is often difficult to avoid the physiological need in this matter. Moreover, some are sure that it is impossible to train willpower. But that's not true. Of course, it is best to start from childhood, but adults, with certain skills, can cope with this task.

[edit] Physiology

The limbic system is a structure of the brain that causes us to respond to sudden stimuli from the environment. The main limiting factor that prevents a person’s limbic system from taking over his desires is the prefrontal cortex. It is responsible for functions such as the ability to plan, keep a goal in mind and pursue it. The prefrontal cortex communicates closely with the limbic system, and it is this “prefrontal cortex - limbic system” connection that is key to a person’s willpower: if the limbic system is too strong, or the prefrontal cortex is too weak, or the connections between them do not work very well, then willpower the person will be weak. The anterior cingulate cortex registers conflicts between immediate desires and the global goals of the individual; therefore, good willpower requires good work of this part of the brain. The insula is also involved in how well a person restrains his temptations. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

) controls motivation, which makes a person strive for a long time towards some goal without succumbing to temptations.

Willpower is also controlled by neurotransmitters - dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine gives the anticipation of pleasure, without which the body will not strive for it. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) seems to calm down and dull impulses in the brain, while if there is too much GABA in the prefrontal cortex, then it cannot cope with the control of the limbic system, and if there is too little GABA in the limbic system, then even a strong prefrontal cortex is not enough inhibits the limbic system.[1]