In a world of temptations and many distractions, be it a TV show, the desire to take an extraordinary day off, or just lie on the couch with a book in your hands, it is so easy to give up on what you had previously planned. Something that seems to be necessary, or even very necessary, but the process of achieving the goal itself is associated with certain actions that require efforts of varying levels of complexity.
Yes, you need to clean your apartment, go to the gym, start work, put aside a box of cookies or a pack of cigarettes, but is it easy to do? For some, quite, while for others it turns into a feat, akin to the deeds of the mythical Hercules. What is the reason for such differences? What determines a person’s ability to take certain actions, despite internal obstacles? The answer is simple - willpower.
Currently, there are several different interpretations of this concept. However, in general they can all be reduced to one thing:
willpower is a voluntary and conscious choice of a specific action from several options with overcoming internal obstacles.
The Evolutionary Necessity of Willpower
Nowadays, issues related to willpower are more associated with restrictions in something and the refusal of any pleasures for the sake of other significant goals. Such a “temptation” can be either an extra sandwich late in the evening or an extra twenty minutes of sleep in the morning, although the alarm clock has long notified you of the need to open your eyes and get ready for business.
In fact, the function of willpower is not limited to such trivial frameworks. Everything is much more global. In fact, the survival of man as a species directly depended on it, although in those days the question of what willpower was was of no particular interest to anyone.
Human and society
Considering that people by nature gravitate towards living in society, this imposes certain restrictions on their behavior.
Of course, “might is right” is good, but man alone would not exist for long. Still, what is acceptable or even preferable for individual individuals is not applicable to the general mass.
As a result, the prospects for humanity would be very dim. However, this did not happen. What got in the way? Willpower, which at first manifested itself in very simple things - not getting into trouble, sharing food, taking care of other members of the tribe, etc.
The more civilized a person became, the more rules and restrictions characterized his usual life. A certain evolutionary demand has emerged for the ability to control momentary impulses - a kind of primary fortitude and willpower - to adhere to the desired manner of behavior, to organize life within the framework of established principles, ensuring the further prosperity and development of humanity.
As a result, the function of self-control has actually turned into an innate quality, being part of a more complex and voluminous psychological concept.
Willpower Instinct: Stop and Plan
Suzanne Segerstrom, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky, studies how stress affects the body. She discovered that self-control also has a biological response. When you need to make a volitional decision, a series of reactions is triggered that helps you resist temptation. Segerstrom calls this “stop and plan,” which is different from the “fight or flight” response.
The “stop and plan” response begins with recognizing internal conflict rather than recognizing external threat. You want to smoke a cigarette, but you know that you have forbidden yourself to do so. This internal conflict is also a threat. Only in this case do you protect yourself from yourself. Therefore, it is necessary to learn to slow down, be aware of such impulses and create an action plan.
When a person is stressed, the sympathetic nervous system is active. Heart rate increases and variability decreases. The heart “freezes”, the person acts according to the “fight or flight” pattern. If a person shows restraint, the parasympathetic nervous system allows him to calm down. The heart beats less often, but variability increases.
Get enough sleep
If you are constantly lacking sleep, then it is unlikely that you understand what it means to control yourself. You become susceptible to stress, it is more difficult to concentrate and make decisions, and manage your emotions.
Lack of sleep disrupts the consumption of glucose, the main source of energy. The cells of the body remain hungry, you feel exhausted. You need energy, which is why you crave sweets or caffeine. But even after consuming them, you will not get the necessary energy.
Self-control is one of the most energy-consuming tasks. Therefore, if you lack sleep, you are not able to control yourself
The prefrontal cortex is the first to experience an energy crisis. Sleep researchers have a name for this condition: mild prefrontal dysfunction. The effects of sleep deprivation on the brain are similar to mild intoxication, which is clearly not conducive to self-control.
The prefrontal cortex is weakened, therefore it does not control other areas of the brain. The body is in a “fight or flight” state rather than a “stop and plan” state and produces large amounts of stress hormones. The result is more stress and less self-control.
The importance of willpower. Self-control
Is it possible to say that a person with developed willpower will feel more comfortable in modern society?
Will he be able to achieve greater heights than his peers who do not have a high level of self-control? What is self-control? Let's try to understand this issue.
The term “self-control” refers to an individual’s ability to control his behavior, emotions and even thoughts.
The latter, of course, is not as radical as, for example, the first, but with the right skills everything is quite achievable. It is self-control, like willpower, that is considered one of the main components in a person’s ability to not only form a list of priority goals for the future, but also to successfully achieve them.
The level of self-control is affected by two factors: psychological skills and innate characteristics. Consequently, even without possessing the second to the proper extent, willpower can be very successfully developed, which depends on how much fortitude and willpower are present initially. Here's a little paradox.
The opposite phenomenon to self-control is impulsiveness, which manifests itself in the inability to fight some immediate desires.
The simplest example is a scattering of completely unnecessary things that somehow attracted attention in the store, but were never needed in everyday life.
What is willpower?
Willpower is a person’s ability to control his life, make certain decisions and achieve their implementation. Without this quality, competition becomes impossible, since the individual instantly gives up under the influence of external factors. It is the ability to act decisively that lifts individuals above others and helps them become leaders.
Developed strong-willed qualities are necessary for study, work, solving everyday issues, self-development and building romantic relationships. Success in any area of life depends on the degree of this quality. At the same time, people know little about willpower, because it is not tangible. It cannot be touched or measured, and its level is difficult to compare among several people. At the same time, there are various tests on the Internet that offer a measurement scale from 0 to 100, or another.
They are relatively subjective , although they help a person roughly understand how developed this quality is. There are even original methods, such as measuring willpower in the kilometers that someone has run. You can just as easily count it in unsmoked cigarettes, untouched sweets, or completed pull-ups. Fun enough, but not objective.
The only measure of this quality can be a person's performance. If the intended goals are achieved, then willpower is in order. If there are tasks that are important, but are constantly put off, then it is advisable to strengthen your character. Even entire books have been written about this, many of which are freely available on the Internet.
Take a character test
"Marshmallow test"
One of the most famous experiments confirming the relationship of willpower with a person’s adaptation in modern society and his success was carried out for about 40 years by the famous psychologist Walter Michel. It began in the 60s of the last century, and final conclusions were formed only in 2006.
The name of the test is very eloquent - “marshmallow”, because it was this delicacy that was used to tempt four-year-old children, testing their ability to control their desires and momentary impulses. The experiment itself was simple and unpretentious - the child was given marshmallows and asked to imagine how tasty and sweet it was. The children had a choice: eat the treat immediately or wait 15 minutes. An indicative test of how much fortitude and willpower have already been formed. As a reward, they were promised an additional portion of marshmallows. At this point, the first stage of the study was completed. Then all that remained was to wait and record important moments in the lives of the participants.
As it turned out in the end, the children who were able to resist temptation and wait for reward in the form of a second piece of marshmallow, confirming that their willpower was excellent, achieved significantly greater heights in life than their peers. In fact, this proved the hypothesis that self-control can safely be considered one of the key factors determining a person’s further success in life.
Continuation of the “marshmallow test”
It would seem, but we can put an end to this - the marshmallow test serves as a more than illustrative example of the importance of self-control. However, later they decided to test it, making the conditions somewhat more complicated. The author of the idea is Celeste Kidd, who works at the University of Rochester.
The new study differed from the “pure marshmallow test” in the presence of preliminary preparation of the subjects. And the children themselves lived in dysfunctional families. Based on the latter, Kidd expected them to fail the treat test, but in this case the key role would be played not by self-control and willpower, but by a natural distrust of adults, due to growing up outside the most pleasant conditions.
Two tests
The preparatory part consisted of a drawing test. In fact, it did not differ significantly from the “marshmallow” one, but instead of a treat, the children were given paper and pencils, with the promise that they would bring markers later, but they would have to wait a little. The choice - to draw or wait - was left to the children. Subsequently, one group was actually given markers, while the second group was apologized to, saying that they would not be there.
Next came the turn of the classic “marshmallow test”. In total, two groups of 14 people each took part. In the first, the participants of which received markers, 9 people waited for the second portion of marshmallows, in the second - 1. From a scientific point of view, such results can hardly be considered a successful refutation of the “marshmallow test”; rather, Kidd demonstrated another important feature of willpower - the relationship with trust. The latter can have both positive and destructive effects.
Willpower: how does it work and how to manage it?
We would be too lazy to make this issue if it weren’t for such a pressing topic.
Imagine how much you can achieve if you do at least half of what we put off due to laziness. But is it true that simply overcoming yourself is enough? What if willpower works completely differently than we used to think? Don’t be lazy, watch our episode about willpower with Irina Yakutenko about this and you will get the answers. If you are too lazy to watch the video, then read the transcript of this video under the cut, which is maximally adapted for reading. We all know people who achieve their goals - “Said and done.” Others have been unable to lose weight/quit smoking/enroll in English/run a marathon for years... Often there is no difference between these two people: some are no smarter or more beautiful than others. And yet there is one quality that distinguishes the former from the latter; this quality is willpower. And very often people think that willpower can be developed if you really want and train. I will tell you that this is not entirely true and willpower is distributed unevenly between people, and that some people were initially given more of it than others.
Fast forward to Stanford University, which has its own small kindergarten for the children of employees. Young psychologist Walter Michel is having fun there. He is conducting a very unusual experiment - imagine an empty room in which there is a table, on the table there is a plate, on the plate there is a small marshmallow, the kind that is roasted on a fire (it is called marshmallow). Michel takes a four- to five-year-old child into the room, sits him in front of a marshmallow and says: “You can eat a marshmallow right now, but if you wait (I need to go out on business), I’ll come back and give you two marshmallows,” says the experimenter and leaves. What happens next? “The children did everything: they looked at this marshmallow, licked it, smelled it, touched it, in general, it’s something you need to see.” Approximately a third of the kids waited for the experimenter and received the coveted two marshmallows, the remaining 60% could not stand it and sooner or later ate the unfortunate marshmallow.
The most interesting part of this experiment occurred 20 years later, when Walter Mischel found the children who participated in it. Those children who were able to wait until the experimenter returned (and he was gone for an impressive 20 minutes) generally achieved much more success in life: they were less likely to be fired from work, they had higher salaries, they were less likely to get divorced, they were less likely to end up in prison , became alcoholics and drug addicts less often. It was a completely different story with those who did not wait for the experimenter and ate the marshmallow: prisons, alcohol, drugs, divorces - it’s all about them. No, this does not mean that 60% of people become drug addicts, they are just much more likely to do so. Research has shown that this is true - people who have higher willpower generally achieve more in life. Neither beauty, nor intelligence, nor anything else correlates as well with success in life as willpower. Accordingly, the next question that scientists asked was: “What should we do? How to develop willpower? Why is this given to some people and not to others?
Numerous books on popular psychology and all kinds of coaches will tell you: “Yes, of course, willpower can be trained!”, but is this really so? To understand, let's first understand:
- What is willpower?
- What happens in our heads when we look at the cake and really want to eat a piece, but we remember that summer is coming and we promised ourselves to lose weight?
Cake, cigarettes, alcohol, a friend's attractive wife, and other pleasures of life seduce us because they promise us pleasure.
What is pleasure from a neurobiological point of view? Pleasure is an extremely powerful emotion, and we experience emotions thanks to a special structure in our brain called the limbic system. The limbic system is an evolutionarily very ancient thing; it was needed not only to force our ancestors to do something, but also to respond to sudden stimuli from the environment. Michel and other scientists call the limbic system the "hot system" - if we didn't have something in our heads to restrain its impulses, then we would constantly do nothing but eat, surf Facebook or play computer games (wait , but some of us do just that!). The main limiting factor we have in our heads that prevents our “hot” limbic system from taking over our desires is the prefrontal cortex. This is part of the neocortex, the very one that makes people human. It contains the main functions that make a person what he is - the ability to plan, keep a goal in mind and pursue it - all these complex things happen here, in the prefrontal cortex.
The prefrontal cortex communicates very closely with the limbic system: they are physically connected by a huge number of connections, and it is this “prefrontal cortex - limbic system” connection that is key to our willpower. If the limbic system is too strong, or the prefrontal cortex is too weak, or the connections between them are not working very well, a person will give in to temptations.
So we've found the first key element of willpower: the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.
But that is not all.
In order for the prefrontal cortex to understand that the limbic system is doing something wrong, for example, it wants to take the 16th candy in a row, someone has to tell it about it. This “someone” is the anterior cingulate cortex, a special structure of which has many functions, and one of them is to register conflicts between immediate desires and our global goals. And if this part of the brain does not work in the best way, good luck, the prefrontal cortex simply will not have time to realize that the limbic system has already done something wrong.
But that's not all.
There is another zone in our head, which also takes part in how well we will restrain our temptations (we can say that our head is full of different participants arguing among themselves and trying to determine who is the boss), this zone called insular cortex. It performs a huge variety of functions, among them, for example, recognizing disgusting odors - this is a very important function; without it, our ancestors would have been poisoned by rotten food. Experiments show that when we reach for a glass of something forbidden, but at the same time we understand that we shouldn’t do it, and now we want to pull our hand away, the insular cortex turns on in the same way as if we were sniffing a garbage can.
Our brain categorically does not like to cancel something that has already been planned. The sensation we experience is, on a physical level, identical to that of vile, unpleasant odors. And if the insular cortex is too active, a person can’t bear to give up a previously made decision (say, going to a bar with friends rather than going to the gym) - this reduces the chances that such a person will be able to achieve his goals. All this cacophony in the head is organized by the prefrontal cortex. It is she who must hear all these voices that come to her from all sides and make the right decision.
But that's not all!
The prefrontal cortex is divided into different parts, each of which has a different function. Central to our willpower and motivation is the dorsolateral part of the prefrontal cortex. Scientists believe that this is where motivation lies, that is, what makes us strive for some goals for a long time, and not succumb to momentary pleasures. And if that part slows down, then people don't see much point: “Well, why not eat more of those fries?”/“Why not have another drink?”/“Why not have another smoke?” — it’s difficult for them to keep global goals in mind, so they simply don’t see the point in straining themselves.
But the question arises: why do some people have all these parts of the brain that we talked about developed like this, and other people have different ones? This is a very interesting question and the correct answer to it is that it is partly determined by our genes, partly by environmental influences. What exactly is the relationship between genes and environmental influences is not yet known, but experiments show that the structure of the brain is very dependent on genes. Roughly speaking, what we got from mom and dad is what we will have in our heads. The environment can correct this, but not very much and, unfortunately, most likely only at an early age.
Scientists do not yet know which genes influence how our brain will be formed. But they know something else and very important - they know which genes indirectly influence this process through certain substances, which, in fact, determine the entire machinery of our brain. Such substances are called neurotransmitters - it is through them that the brain implements its orders (well, let’s say, activate some part or dampen it). The two main neurotransmitters that are responsible for our willpower are dopamine and serotonin. You've probably heard these names many times - in advertising and all sorts of popular books they are often called “pleasure hormones.”
For a long time, scientists believed that dopamine gives us pleasure, that it is he who is responsible for making us feel good. Now the point of view has changed: it seems that dopamine does not directly give us pleasure, but it gives us the anticipation of pleasure and this is even more important. When we see a beautiful woman (or man), tasty but unhealthy food, alcohol, drugs, drinking (and other things that prevent us from achieving our goals), we do not directly experience pleasure, but we understand that we will experience pleasure. We feel anticipation. And it's like this
a “hook” that holds us much tighter than pleasure itself.
Scientists once conducted an experiment: using a special toxin, they destroyed the neurons in the heads of rats that produce dopamine. What happened? “These rats still loved sweet water (all rats love sweet water), but these rats had no intention of going anywhere for it, even to the next corner of the cage. Yes, they liked the taste of sweet water, but they did not want to strive for it - they had no anticipation of pleasure. And breakdowns in the dopamine system, in the system of anticipation of pleasure, are the key thing that determines our willpower. If a person always lacks pleasure or its anticipation, he will look for it everywhere: in likes on social networks, in alcohol, in junk food, etc. On the other hand, there are breakdowns that make people feel pleasure too intensely, and this is also a problem. If for one person candy is simply delicious, then for another it is hyper-tasty! Can you imagine what it would be like for the second person to refuse candy?
There are many breakdowns in the dopamine system. The genes that encode the neurotransmitter itself most often do not break down - such breakdowns are simply incompatible with life, it is too important for us. Most often, service genes fail, say, those that encode receptors that capture this neurotransmitter, or transporters that drag it from cell to cell. Here is a partial list of what may break:
DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, DRD2/ANKK1 A1, DAT 1, SLC6A4 (5-HTTLPR), HTR2A, HTR3B, HTR1A, HTR1B, TPH2, BDNF, PNMT, COM, MAOA
A breakdown does not mean that this gene is completely out of order - it just works a little differently.
But this leads to disastrous results: people with poorly functioning dopamine receptors are more likely to become alcoholics, drug addicts or become addicted to gambling, they are on average more impulsive, and it is more difficult for them to demonstrate self-control than people who have everything in order with these receptors. The second system in which breakdowns critically affect our willpower is the serotonin neurotransmitter system. It gives us not a feeling of pleasure, but a general feeling of goodness: for example, people with depression most often have problems with serotonin. Mutations in the service genes of the serotonin system have the same effect as mutations in the dopamine system.
What can we say when these and other mutations are combined together (as, for example, in mine). When I genotyped myself, I found faults in both serotonin and dopamine. As you can see, this does not interfere with a competent approach.
There are other systems, breakdowns in which have a very bad effect on our self-control. For example, breakdowns in the inhibitory neurotransmitter system called GABA. It seems to pacify and dull all impulses in our brain. But if there is too much GABA in the prefrontal cortex, then it cannot adequately control the limbic system, and if there is too little GABA in the limbic system, then it plays at full capacity and even the powerful prefrontal cortex cannot slow it down.
There can be a lot of faults in various genes, and each of them slightly worsens our situation with self-control. Sometimes, in order for a person to become weak-willed, a breakdown in one gene is enough, but more often than not, one mutation does not critically affect self-control, but several of them do. If you think that the combination of several defects in one genome is rare, then you are mistaken. I have at least 4 of them. As you can see, I was even able to write a book. So it affects self-control, but not critically.
But what should I do if I or you have any mutations that make willpower an extremely difficult task? Will we never succeed in life? To some extent, yes. But in fact, there are no scientific studies that would show that by training you can force yourself to like sweets less or experience less pleasure from alcohol. But this does not mean that everything is lost. Whatever the underlying breakdowns that lead to problems with self-control, most often the result is the same - the impulses of the limbic system are too strong and the prefrontal cortex is not able to restrain them. Knowing this, you can develop a strategy that will help you resist temptations and more or less adhere to global goals:
- The first thing to remember: if you know that you really love something harmful, that you will experience great pleasure from it, stop telling yourself that next time you will be able to resist temptation (for example, not drinking at a buffet table or not eating a cookie ).
You can't. Your limbic system is too strong, or your prefrontal cortex is weak, but it doesn’t matter, the result is the same. What's the conclusion? - Avoid situations where you will lose your temper, because most likely you will lose your temper. If you avoid these situations, you will avoid failure. Yes, the limbic system is an extremely powerful thing, which, if mishandled, usually ruins our lives. But with proper handling, you can turn it to your advantage. Let's say you love sweets and can't give it up. What to do? In this case, you need to convince yourself for a very long time, convincingly, colorfully, how harmful sweets are. Moreover, it is not your prefrontal logical part that needs to be involved, but the limbic system. Find pictures of very overweight people, read how they lie on the bed and cannot walk, imagine what will happen to your body and what abominations sugar causes in it and it should work. The same goes for cigarettes, computer games and anything else. - The second recommendation for dealing with temptations: come up with an emergency plan if you still cannot avoid meeting them.
Let's say you're a shopaholic and you got paid today. You are walking home after work and have absolutely no intention of passing by the shopping center. But something happened, your plans changed, a friend called... in short, you ended up in the store. Usually in this case, shopaholics spend all or half of their salary on unnecessary purchases, and then worry terribly. You need to come up with an emergency plan in a calm atmosphere before you get to the store: what to do if you and temptation encounter again? Remember, when you see temptation, you will not be able to resist it. But if you have a ready-made plan that is somewhere, like in your phone, pocket or anywhere, there is a chance that it will work. I don't know, for example, you decide to do 10 push-ups or do something else. Remember this, memorize your strategy of action, then maybe you will be able to avoid temptation.
Based on the study of self-control genes, the neurobiology of self-control, and so on, scientists have come up with quite a lot of recommendations on how to deal with temptations if initially you are not very good with willpower.
Many of these recommendations are in my book. The main idea of my speech is the following: all people are different due to genetic characteristics, characteristics of the environment in which we grew up, and so on. We have different mechanisms working in our heads. And it’s really easier for some people to keep their word, go towards their goals, and resist temptations than for other people. You shouldn’t blame those who can’t keep their impulses in check for lack of will: perhaps it’s really much more difficult for them to do than for you. And that is why, because we are all different, there are no universal recommendations on how to overcome your lack of will and achieve your goals. But scientists have already found many reasons why our willpower breaks down, and based on these reasons, you can find recommendations that are suitable specifically for you. So study yourself, try to find where the breakdown occurred for you and look for recommendations that are right for you.
And then, perhaps, you will be able to achieve excellent results in this life, even if once upon a time in childhood, you would not have passed the marshmallow test. We remind you that this was a transcript of our video “WILLPOWER: HOW IS IT STRUCTURED AND HOW TO MANAGE IT? | IQ" (we attach the video again just in case):
Where to look for willpower
Having found out through examples what willpower is and how it is related to a person’s achievements and his place in society, a reasonable question arises about the place of its location. Where is she hiding? Is there scientific evidence confirming that one or another area of the brain is responsible for the function of self-control?
According to modern neuroscience, the answer lies in the prefrontal cortex. Initially, she was responsible mainly for physical actions, for example, running, walking, and other similar movements. In the process of evolution, it not only increased in size, but also learned to control a number of other functions. For example, partly even to control thoughts, emotions, and lead to certain actions.
According to the same Robert Sapolsky, a neuroscientist from Stanford University, it is the prefrontal cortex that “lifts” a person from a chair or sofa - why not willpower? - literally forcing him to go do something important, despite his desire to spend the next few hours in lazy bliss.
The usefulness of habits
Develop regular habits that are at least good for your health. Let’s say you always wake up earlier, but for some reason the habit is not followed on weekends. Everyone understands that doing exercises in the morning is useful, but few people do it. To develop willpower, it is worth acquiring and maintaining healthy habits in your life. Get over yourself and start waking up 15-20 minutes earlier than usual to use them to exercise. A pleasant bonus of this action is the improvement in physical fitness.
Some may say that the problem is that you need to wake up early and get out of bed. After all, when you wake up, the body is like stone, and the bed is the most comfortable place on earth. A person begins to think, well then I’ll start tomorrow, and this is repeated day after day.
You can find the strength to exercise if you start moving at least somehow in the morning. Set your alarm clock at full volume and place it in the far corner of the room so that you are sure to get up and turn it off. Movement will start the work of brain processes. For special motivation, there are alarm clocks where a banknote is placed and if it is not turned off in time, the bill will be crushed.
Prefrontal cortex areas
There are three zones in the prefrontal cortex. The left is responsible for that part of the willpower that is necessary to engage in boring, routine or stressful activities, despite the desire to quit.
The task of the right is to suppress momentary impulses associated with the sudden emergence of some desire, be it purchasing a new expensive thing, reading email on a smartphone while driving, etc.
The third zone is located in the center and slightly lower. It resists temptations on a more global level, reminding us of truly important goals, the achievement of which will be called into question if a person decides to temporarily play the giveaway game with his short-term desires.
It turns out that willpower is a kind of complex concept that can simultaneously be considered both one of the basic volitional qualities and a set of functions of certain areas of the brain.
Development of willpower
The positive aspect of the above examples is that it gives an understanding that the will can also be developed. Of course, strong-willed qualities are not easy to develop, but achieving them is worth it. The important point in developing willpower is to achieve it gradually, smoothly moving on to more complex goals.
