Psychological characteristics of will. Voluntary and volitional regulation. Criteria and functions of the will. The structure of the volitional process.
Response Plan
Signs of will.
Voluntary regulation.
Volitional regulation.
Criteria of will.
Functions of the will.
Criteria and functions of the will.
The structure of the volitional process.
Will and decision making.
Types of determination according to James.
Answer:
Signs of will.
Psychological characteristics of will.
Will- a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles. Will is a person’s ability for conscious intentional activity or for self-determination through work on the internal plane, providing additional incentive (inhibition) to action based on an arbitrary form of motivation.
According to Wundt, the volitional process is related to the affective process, but stands one step higher. The area of affective process control is associated with the volitional process. The basis of volitional processes are volitional motives, which are composed of ideas - which are the basis - and an element of feeling - the motivating cause of the will. (wolf hunting - type of prey - basis, hunger - feeling).
According to James, the concept of will is the basic concept. Volitional activity is a condition of personal choice, the essence of the spiritual self. Full development of personality is the education of will. James defines volitional regulation by linking it with attention, defining it as a combination of attention - focusing consciousness, and effort - overcoming distractions.
The main features of a volitional act:
a) making efforts to perform an act of will;
b) the presence of a well-thought-out plan for the implementation of a behavioral act;
c) increased attention to the behavioral act and the lack of direct pleasure received in the process and as a result of its execution;
d) often the efforts of the will are aimed not only at defeating circumstances, but at overcoming oneself.
Will is determined by three main criteria:
Phenomenological criterion. The person himself experiences a volitional process. For a person, the state of the volitional process is experienced as purposeful actions. As events of your own choice.
Productive criteria of will (executive)
The presence of will can be assessed by the results of an action
External criterion of will (behavioral criteria of will, muscle effort, visual concentration)
Characteristics of a volitional act.
A volitional action is conscious, purposeful, intentional, accepted for implementation according to one’s own conscious decision;
Volitional action is an action necessary for external (social) or personal reasons, i.e. there are always reasons why an action is taken for execution;
A volitional action has an initial deficit of motivation (or inhibition) that manifests itself during its implementation;
Volitional action is ultimately provided by additional motivation (inhibition) due to the functioning of certain mechanisms and ends with the achievement of the intended goal.
Voluntary regulation.
Voluntary and volitional regulation.
Characteristic features of voluntary processes: 1. A voluntary reaction has acquired vital significance (new meaning); 2. A voluntary reaction is always felt or conscious (voluntarily, when presented: vasodilation and sound, movements of children and a signal about the end; 3. A voluntary reaction is formed and manifests itself only in a situation of actual need or vital necessity, the means of resolution of which it is; 4. A voluntary reaction is either not forced and can be replaced at the subject’s own choice by another with the same vital meaning, or (in a person), even being forced, cannot be intentionally regulated in the course of its implementation.A voluntary process is a felt or conscious process with acquired new life meaning (meaning) and aimed at achieving the result chosen by the subject: a process, the beginning, end, delay or change of which is determined by vital necessity, but is not forced by it.
Volitional regulation.
Volitional regulation behavior consists in optimal mobilization of the individual, concentration of activity in the required direction. The ability to arbitrarily regulate action and mental processes, subordinating them to one’s creative decisions, is also explained by the presence of will.
Volitional regulation behavior and actions are voluntary regulation human activity. It is formed and developed under the influence of control over his behavior by society, and then - self-control of the individual.
Volitional regulation manifests itself as a personal level of voluntary regulation, characterized in that the decision about it comes from the individual and personal means are used in regulation.
Compared to voluntary action, volitional action has all the features of a voluntary process: it acquires a new meaning, is rarely determined by the situation itself, and unfolds as a consequence of current social necessity. The difference between volitional and voluntary action is that the former is associated with the regulation of semantic values. Volitional regulation is the last stage in a person’s mastery of his own processes, the highest of which is motivational. Volitional regulation is an arbitrary form of motivational process aimed at creating a socially necessary action. In other words, volitional regulation is one of the forms of voluntary regulation, which consists in creating an additional incentive based on voluntary motivation, which is self-determination.
It becomes volitional when, with a lack of motivation (or its excess), it receives additional motivation (or inhibition) from an arbitrarily constructed motivation process. Those. the action is rethought: losing its initially utilitarian motive, it acquires a new (additional meaning). We rise to a personal level. Motives for creating additional motivation: motives of competence, self-esteem, self-esteem, ethical, aesthetic, ideological. The need for an arbitrary change in the incentive to take one of the actions is set by society. This social necessity is reflected only at the level of the individual, because only the individual realizes himself through social relationships.
Three stages of development of volitional regulation: 1. Arbitrary processes. Developing on the basis of need motivation (arbitrary moments in animal behavior); 2. Voluntary processes formed on the basis of conscious reflection of the need and possibility of such regulation with the help of speech mediation (voluntary human processes; 3. Volitional processes as a personal level of voluntary regulation.
Criteria of will.
Criteria and functions of the will.
In the main theories, will is understood not as an ability initially given to a person, but as a developing ability, then the question arises about the criteria for identifying will or the degree of its development and about the conditions requiring the manifestation of will . Four types criteria for manifestation of will: 1. In volitional actions; 2. In the choice of motives and goals; 3. In the regulation of a person’s internal states, his actions and various mental processes; 4. In the volitional qualities of the individual.
Functions of the will.
Basic functions of the will:
· Selection of motives and goals;
· Regulation of incentives to act in case of insufficient or excessive motivation;
· Organization of mental processes into an adequate system for human activity;
· Mobilization of physical and mental capabilities when overcoming obstacles in achieving goals.
The main psychological function of the will amounts to increased motivation And improvement on this basis regulation of actions. This is how volitional actions differ from impulsive actions, i.e. actions performed involuntarily and not sufficiently controlled by consciousness.
The structure of the volitional process.
Volitional processes are:
· simple- not associated with the struggle of motives, hesitations when choosing a goal, methods of its implementation;
· complex- if a person cannot decide for a long time on the goals, methods, results and
consists of two stages:
· preparatory - intention, awareness of the goal, decision making, choice of means and methods;
· executive - implementation of the set goal.
Mechanism of volitional regulation: intentional change in the meaning of an action (work activity: many actions are not directly related to the motive of the activity, but on the basis of the meaning, as the relationship of the purpose of the action to the motive of the activity, they receive life in human manifestations). Changing the meaning: 1. Through reassessment of the significance of the motive or object of need; 2. Through changing the role, position of a person; 3. Through anticipating and experiencing the consequences of an action or refusal to implement it. Volitional regulation is not needed where there is an actual experienced need that provides an incentive to action, where the action has a certain positive meaning for a person. The need for volitional regulation appears in cases where: 1. An action taken out of social necessity or according to one’s own value systems is not connected with an actually experienced need and thus does not have sufficient motivation; 2. The implementation of an action encounters factors that reduce or make it impossible to create and maintain the necessary incentive for it; 3. It is necessary to refrain from action related to a need that is actually experienced, but socially not approved in a given situation.
Types of determination according to James.
Considering the decision-making process, W. James identified several types of decisiveness.
Reasonable determination manifests itself when opposing motives begin to gradually fade away.
If hesitation and indecision have gone on for too long, there may come a time when a person is more likely to make a wrong decision than not to make one at all.
Wanting to avoid the unpleasant feeling of indecision, a person begins to act as if automatically; what happens next does not concern him at the moment.
Cases of moral rebirth, awakening of conscience, etc. In this case, the cessation of internal fluctuation occurs due to a change in the scale of values.
A person, without any reason, considers a certain course of action more preferable. He strengthens the motive with the help of will. The functions of the mind here are performed by the will.
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Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles.
Will is a human ability, manifested in self-determination and self-regulation of its activities and various mental processes. Thanks to the will, a person can, on his own initiative, based on a perceived need, perform actions in a pre-planned direction and with a predetermined force. Moreover, he can organize and direct his mental activity accordingly. With an effort of will, you can restrain the external manifestation of emotions or even show the completely opposite.
S. D Reznik identifies the following main functions of the will:
1) choice of motives and goals;
2) regulation of the incentive to act when there is insufficient or excessive motivation;
3) organization of mental processes into a system adequate to the activity performed by a person;
4) mobilization of physical and mental capabilities when overcoming obstacles in achieving the goal.
For the emergence of volitional regulation, certain conditions are necessary - the presence of obstacles and obstacles. Will manifests itself when difficulties appear on the way to the goal: external obstacles - time, space, people's opposition, physical properties of objects, etc.; internal obstacles - relationships and attitudes, painful conditions, fatigue, etc. All these obstacles, reflected in consciousness, cause volitional effort, which creates the necessary tone to overcome difficulties.
Volitional efforts are required:
1) when replenishing the lack of motivation to act in the absence of sufficient motivation;
2) when choosing motives, goals, types of actions in case of their conflict;
3) with voluntary regulation of external and internal actions and mental processes.
Will is inextricably linked with cognitive motives and emotional processes. In this regard, all human actions can be divided into two categories: involuntary and voluntary.
Involuntary actions are committed as a result of the emergence of unconscious or insufficiently clearly conscious impulses (drives, attitudes, etc.). They are impulsive and lack a clear plan. In other words, in involuntary actions there is no clear goal and efforts of the subject to achieve it. An example of non-productive actions can be the actions of people in a state of passion (amazement, fear, delight, anger).
Voluntary actions presuppose awareness of the goal, a preliminary representation of those operations that can ensure its achievement, and their order. In this regard, will manifests itself as a person’s confidence in his own abilities, as the determination to perform the act that the person himself considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation.
Volitional regulation of human behavior is formed and developed under the influence of control over his behavior by society, and then - self-control of the individual.
Depending on the difficulties of the external world and the complexity of a person’s inner world, there are 4 options for the manifestation of will:
1) in an easy world, where any desire is feasible, will is practically not required (human desires are simple, unambiguous, any desire is feasible in an easy world);
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Lecture: Will.
General characteristics of volitional actions
Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties when performing purposeful actions and deeds. The main function of the will is the conscious regulation of activity in difficult living conditions.
Voluntary or volitional actions develop on the basis of involuntary movements and actions. The simplest of involuntary movements are reflex ones: constriction and dilation of the pupil, blinking, swallowing, sneezing, etc. The same class of movements includes withdrawing a hand when touching a hot object, involuntarily turning the head towards a sound, etc. Involuntary nature Our expressive movements are also usually worn: when we are angry, we involuntarily clench our teeth; when surprised, we raise our eyebrows or open our mouth; when we are happy about something, we begin to smile, etc.
Behavior, like actions, can be involuntary or voluntary. The involuntary type of behavior mainly includes impulsive actions and unconscious, not subordinated to a common goal, reactions, for example to noise behind a window, an object that can satisfy a need, etc. Involuntary behavior also includes human behavioral reactions observed in situations of affect, when a person is under the influence of an emotional state uncontrolled by consciousness.
In contrast to involuntary actions, conscious actions, which are more characteristic of human behavior, are aimed at achieving a set goal. Exactly Consciousness of actions characterizes volitional behavior. However, volitional actions can include as separate links such movements that, during the formation of the skill, became automated and lost their initially conscious character.
Volitional actions differ from each other primarily in the level of their complexity. There are very complex volitional actions that include a number of simpler ones. Thus, the above example, when a person wants to quench his thirst, gets up, pours water into a glass, etc., is an example of complex volitional behavior, which includes individual less complex volitional actions. But there are even more complex volitional actions. For example, climbers who decide to conquer a mountain peak begin their preparation long before the ascent. This includes training, inspecting equipment, adjusting bindings, choosing a route, etc. But the main difficulties lie ahead when they begin their ascent.
The basis for complicating actions is the fact that not every goal that we set can be achieved immediately. Most often, achieving a goal requires performing a number of intermediate actions that bring us closer to the goal.
Another important feature of volitional behavior is its connection with overcoming obstacles, and regardless of what type these obstacles are - internal or external. Internal, or subjective, obstacles are a person’s motivations aimed at not performing a given action or at performing actions that are opposite to it. For example, a schoolchild wants to play with toys, but at the same time he needs to do his homework. Internal obstacles can include fatigue, the desire to have fun, inertia, laziness, etc. An example of external obstacles can be, for example, the lack of the necessary tools for work or the opposition of other people who do not want the goal to be achieved.
It should be noted that not every action aimed at overcoming an obstacle is volitional. For example, a person running away from a dog can overcome very difficult obstacles and even climb a tall tree, but these actions are not volitional, since they are caused primarily by external reasons, and not by the person’s internal attitudes. Thus, the most important feature of volitional actions aimed at overcoming obstacles is awareness of the significance of the goal that must be fought for, awareness of the need to achieve it. The more significant a goal is for a person, the more obstacles he overcomes. Therefore, volitional actions can differ not only in the degree of their complexity, but also in the degree awareness.
Will is also related to mental activity And feelings.
Will implies the presence of a person’s sense of purpose, which requires certain thought processes. The manifestation of thinking is expressed in conscious choice goals and selection funds to achieve it. Thinking is also necessary during the execution of a planned action. Carrying out our intended action, we encounter many difficulties. For example, the conditions for performing an action may change or it may be necessary to change the means of achieving the goal. Therefore, in order to achieve the set goal, a person must constantly compare the goals of the action, the conditions and means of its implementation and make the necessary adjustments in a timely manner. Without the participation of thinking, volitional actions would be devoid of consciousness, that is, they would cease to be volitional actions.
The connection between will and feelings is expressed in the fact that, as a rule, we pay attention to objects and phenomena that evoke certain feelings in us. The desire to achieve or achieve something, just like to avoid something unpleasant, is associated with our feelings. What is indifferent to us and does not evoke any emotions, as a rule, does not act as a goal of action.
Structure of volitional action
Where does volitional action begin? Of course, with awareness of the purpose of the action and the motive associated with it. With a clear awareness of the goal and the motive that causes it, the desire for the goal is usually called desire(Fig. 15.2).
But not every desire for a goal is sufficiently conscious. Depending on the degree of awareness of needs, they are divided into attractions And desires. If the desire is conscious, then the attraction is always vague, unclear: a person realizes that he wants something, that he lacks something, or that he needs something, but he does not understand what exactly. Usually people experience attraction as a specific painful state in the form of melancholy or uncertainty. Because of its uncertainty, attraction cannot develop into purposeful activity. Therefore, attraction is often viewed as a transitional state. The need presented in it, as a rule, either fades away or is realized and turns into a specific desire.
It should be noted that not every desire leads to action. Desire in itself will not restrain the active element. Before a desire turns into an immediate motive and then into a goal, it is evaluated by a person, i.e.
Rice. 15.2. Psychological structure of the volitional act
“filtered” through a person’s value system and receives a certain emotional coloring. Everything that is connected with the realization of a goal is colored in positive tones in the emotional sphere, just as everything that is an obstacle to achieving a goal causes negative emotions.
Having a motivating force, desire sharpens the awareness of the goal of a future action and the construction of its plan. In turn, when forming a goal, a special role is played by its content, character And meaning. The more significant the goal, the more powerful the desire it can generate.
Desires are not always immediately translated into reality. A person sometimes has several uncoordinated and even contradictory desires at once, and he finds himself in a very difficult situation, not knowing which of them to realize. A mental state that is characterized by a collision of several desires or several different motivations for activity is usually called struggle of motives. The struggle of motives includes a person’s assessment of those reasons that speak for and against the need to act in a certain direction, thinking about how exactly to act. The final moment of the struggle of motives is decision-making, consisting in choosing a goal and method of action. When making a decision, a person shows determination; at the same time, he, as a rule, feels responsible for the further course of events.
Human volitional qualities and their development
The human will is characterized by certain qualities. First of all, it is customary to highlight willpower as a generalized ability to overcome significant difficulties that arise on the way to achieving a goal. The more serious the obstacle that you have overcome on the way to your goal, the stronger your will. It is the obstacles overcome through volitional efforts that are an objective indicator of the manifestation of willpower.
Among the various manifestations of willpower, it is customary to distinguish such personality traits as excerpt And self-control which are expressed in the ability to restrain one’s feelings when required, in preventing impulsive and rash actions, in the ability to control oneself and force oneself to carry out a planned action, as well as refrain from doing what one wants to do, but which seems unreasonable or wrong.
Another characteristic of will is determination. Under determination It is customary to understand the conscious and active orientation of the individual towards achieving a certain result of activity.
An important characteristic of the will is initiative. Initiative lies in the ability to make attempts to implement ideas that arise in a person. For many people, overcoming their own inertia is the most difficult moment of an act of will. Only an independent person can take the first conscious step towards the implementation of a new idea. Independence - this is a characteristic of will that is directly related to initiative. Independence is manifested in the ability to consciously make decisions and in the ability not to be influenced by various factors that impede the achievement of a goal. An independent person is capable of critically evaluating the advice and suggestions of other people, acting on the basis of his views and beliefs, and at the same time making adjustments to his actions based on the advice received.
It should be noted that the initiative shown by a person, in addition to independence, is always associated with another quality of will - determination. Decisiveness lies in the absence of unnecessary hesitation and doubt when there is a conflict of motives, in timely and quick decision-making. First of all, determination is manifested in the choice of the dominant motive, as well as in the choice of adequate means of achieving the goal. Decisiveness also manifests itself when implementing a decision. Decisive people are characterized by a quick and energetic transition from the choice of actions and means to the actual execution of the action.
An extremely important volitional quality of a person is sequence human actions. The sequence of actions characterizes the fact that all actions performed by a person follow from a single guiding principle, to which a person subordinates everything secondary and incidental. The sequence of actions, in turn, is closely related to self-control And self-esteem.
The will, like most other higher mental processes, is formed during the age-related development of a person.
Will, as a characteristic of consciousness and activity, arose along with the emergence of society and labor activity. Will is an important component of the human psyche, inextricably linked with cognitive motives and emotional processes.
Volitional actions can be simple and complex. To simple volitional actions include those in which a person goes towards the intended goal without hesitation, it is clear to him what and in what way he will achieve it, i.e. the impulse to action turns into action itself almost automatically.
For complex volitional action is characteristic the following steps:
1. awareness of the goal and the desire to achieve it;
2. awareness of a number of possibilities for achieving the goal;
3. the emergence of motives that affirm or deny these possibilities;
4. struggle of motives and choice;
5. accepting one of the possibilities as a solution;
6. implementation of the decision;
7. overcoming external obstacles, objective difficulties of the matter itself, possible obstacles until the decision made and the goal set are achieved and implemented.
Will is needed when choosing a goal, making a decision, taking action, and overcoming obstacles. Overcoming obstacles requires willpower- a special state of neuropsychic tension, mobilizing the physical, intellectual and moral strength of a person. Will manifests itself as a person’s confidence in his own abilities, as the determination to perform the act that the person himself considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation. “Free will means the ability to make decisions with knowledge.”
The need for a strong will increases when you have:
1. difficult situations of the “difficult world”;
2. complex, contradictory inner world in the person himself.
By performing various types of activities, while overcoming external and internal obstacles, a person develops in himself strong-willed qualities:
* determination,
* determination,
* independence,
* initiative,
* persistence,
* endurance,
* discipline,
* courage.
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Mood is a general emotional state that colors all human behavior over a significant period of time.
Usually the mood is characterized by unaccountability and weak expression; a person does not notice them. But, sometimes, the mood acquires significant intensity and leaves its mark on the mind.
To create an optimal emotional state you need: 1. Correct assessment of the significance of the event. 2. Sufficient awareness (various) on this issue
The complex inner world of man
The dynamics of the will depending on the complexity of the external world and the complexity of the internal world of a person: 1 - Will is not required (a person’s desires are simple, unambiguous, any desire is fulfilled
Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles.
Will is a human ability, manifested in the self-determination and self-regulation of its activities and various mental processes. Thanks to the will, a person can, on his own initiative, based on a perceived need, perform actions in a pre-planned direction and with a predetermined force. Moreover, he can organize and direct his mental activity accordingly. With an effort of will, you can restrain the external manifestation of emotions or even show the completely opposite.
S. D Reznik identifies the following main functions of the will:
1. choice of motives and goals;
2. regulation of the impulse to action in case of insufficient or excessive motivation;
3. organization of mental processes into a system adequate to the activity performed by a person;
4. mobilization of physical and mental capabilities when overcoming obstacles in achieving the goal.
For the emergence of volitional regulation, certain conditions are necessary - the presence of obstacles and obstacles. Will manifests itself when difficulties appear on the way to the goal: external obstacles - time, space, people's opposition, physical properties of objects, etc.; internal obstacles - relationships and attitudes, painful conditions, fatigue, etc. All these obstacles, reflected in consciousness, cause volitional effort, which creates the necessary tone to overcome difficulties.
Volitional efforts are required:
1. when replenishing the lack of motivation to act in the absence of sufficient motivation;
2. when choosing motives, goals, types of actions in case of their conflict;
3. with voluntary regulation of external and internal actions and mental processes.
Will is inextricably linked with cognitive motives and emotional processes. In this regard, all human actions can be divided into two categories: involuntary and voluntary.
Involuntary actions are committed as a result of the emergence of unconscious or insufficiently clearly conscious impulses (drives, attitudes, etc.). They are impulsive and lack a clear plan. In other words, in involuntary actions there is no clear goal and efforts of the subject to achieve it. An example of non-productive actions can be the actions of people in a state of passion (amazement, fear, delight, anger).
Voluntary actions presuppose awareness of the goal, a preliminary representation of those operations that can ensure its achievement, and their order. In this regard, will manifests itself as a person’s confidence in his own abilities, as the determination to perform the act that the person himself considers appropriate and necessary in a particular situation.
The volitional regulation of human behavior is formed and developed under the influence of control over his behavior by society, and then by the self-control of the individual.
Depending on the difficulties of the external world and the complexity of a person’s inner world, there are 4 options for the manifestation of will:
1. in an easy world, where any desire is feasible, the will is practically not required (human desires are simple, unambiguous, any desire is feasible in an easy world);
2. in a difficult world, where there are various obstacles, strong-willed efforts are required to overcome the obstacles of reality, patience is needed, but the person himself is internally calm, confident in his rightness due to the unambiguousness of his desires and goals (the simple inner world of a person);
3. in an easy external world and in a complex internal world of a person, strong-willed efforts are required to overcome internal contradictions and doubts, a person is internally complex, there is a struggle of motives and goals, a person suffers when making a decision;
4. in a difficult external world and in a complex internal world of a person, intense volitional efforts are required to overcome internal doubts in order to choose a solution and carry out actions in conditions of objective obstacles and difficulties. Volitional action here acts as a conscious, intentional, purposeful action taken for implementation by one’s own decision on the basis of external and internal necessity.
The need for a strong will increases when you have:
1. difficult situations of the “difficult world”;
2. complex, contradictory inner world in the person himself.
By performing various types of activities, while overcoming external and internal obstacles, a person develops volitional qualities: purposefulness, determination, independence, initiative, perseverance, endurance, discipline, courage.
In management activities, the following rules must be observed:
1. provide conditions for the success of the employee’s activities, but do not significantly facilitate his tasks;
2. to intensify the employee’s independent activity, to arouse in him a feeling of joy from what has been achieved, to increase his faith in his ability to overcome difficulties;
3. explain the expediency of those requirements, orders, decisions that the manager presents to the employee, and provide the employee with the opportunity to make decisions independently within reasonable limits.
The results of any volitional action have two consequences for a person: the first is the achievement of a specific goal; the second is due to the fact that a person evaluates his actions and learns appropriate lessons for the future regarding the ways to achieve the goal and the effort expended.
Emotional and volitional processes are thus closely interrelated. Will acts as a means of regulation and correction of the negative impact of emotions on activity. Emotions, in turn, give a subjective tone to volitional effort and can help increase its potential. Such a close relationship leads to the fact that in real behavior they are practically inseparable and are experienced by the subject in the form of mental states. The concept of state denotes the most integrative form of organization of all components of the psyche in a given period of time. This is the entire psyche, all its content, but at one or another interval of its functioning. The content, intensity, tone, and direction of such functioning can, of course, change greatly; at the same time, the very nature of mental states will change. A special branch of psychology deals with the study of mental states—the psychology of functional states.
In the study of managerial activity, the most significant thing is that all the main types of states and the patterns discovered during their study are not only preserved in the activities of the manager, but often appear in the most distinct form. In the psychology of functional states, there are different methods of classification. For example, by degree of intensity (high, medium, low activity); by content (in particular, states of fatigue, monotony, mental satiety, frustration, inspiration, anxiety, discomfort, etc.); by type of activity in which they arise (game, educational, work); on theft (positive, negative, ambivalent); by the nature of the impact on activities (positive and negative).
In the structure of any state, two components are distinguished, its two sides - content and dynamic (“energy”). It has been proven that the effectiveness of performing an activity is significantly influenced by both the content of states (for example, a state of depression can not only worsen, but also block activity, and a state of inspiration - on the contrary), and its intensity, “energy saturation”
The activation level can vary over a wide range of values. To designate this range in psychology, the concept of “activation continuum”, or “scale of wakefulness levels” is used. The following states are considered as such levels (in increasing order of their energy background): coma, deep sleep, REM sleep, shallow sleep, quiet wakefulness, active wakefulness, intense wakefulness, stress, emotional abortion of behavior.
Secondly, it has been proven that there is a direct connection between the degree of negative (destructive) influence of mental states and the complexity of those mental processes and formations in relation to which this influence takes place. Negative states have a stronger effect on more complex processes, formations, and activities than on simple ones. For example, under the influence of stress or fatigue, intellectual functions (as more complex) decrease first and to a greater extent, and then, to a relatively lesser extent, motor and executive functions (as simpler ones). These two patterns are most important for understanding the specifics of emotional-volitional regulation of states in general, and for its features in management activities.
The main and most general feature of the emotional-volitional regulation of states in management activities is the combination of the following two features. Firstly, it is managerial activity that is characterized by extremely high emotionality and stress, and contains a huge number of reasons for the occurrence of negative emotions and difficult conditions. Secondly, it is she who makes the highest demands on the effectiveness and rigidity of the emotional-volitional regulation of states, which is associated with her responsibility. Apparently, no other activity contains such a wide range of causes and factors that give rise to emotional reactions as management.
In addition to factors associated with the process of activity itself, with its organization, there is an additional and very powerful group of emotiogenic factors associated with interpersonal relationships. The complexity of the content of this activity, the presence of difficult and often extreme conditions for its implementation, combined with high responsibility for its results, form a constant symptom complex of characteristics of management activity. It acts as a source of development of unfavorable mental states, chronic “managerial stress”. At the same time, it is the leader who must “be able to restrain emotions,” “not give in to mood,” and control himself. Moreover, this is necessary not only to reduce the negative impact of emotions and states on his own activities. The point is also that the leader is “constantly in sight,” and any of his undesirable emotional manifestations and states (uncertainty, depression, nervousness, and even panic) are perceived by his subordinates and affect their activities.
Finally, it is management activity that requires the maximum inclusion of volitional processes, and the very concepts of “good leader” and “strong-willed leader” are often used synonymously. All of the above means that both the “world of emotions” and the “world of states”, and the entire spectrum of volitional processes and qualities are manifested in this activity in their maximum expression, most fully and brightly. At the same time, in the psychology of managerial activity, a circle of the most typical aspects, emotional-volitional regulation, which are of greatest importance for its organization, is usually highlighted. These include: the problem of stress in management activities, the problem of the state of frustration, the phenomenon of “readiness for emergency action”, the concept of emotional resistance of a manager, features of the cognitive regulation of dysfunctional states, patterns of expressive processes in management activities.