1.4: WILL & THE PSYCHE

We are each dealt a particular biology, psychological history, and current social environment. From these parts emerges a new entity: – the Psyche – with attributes that did not exist before. Even the neuron, as remarkable and complex a structure as it is, does not posses consciousness. Experiential phenomena emerge from the activities of many neurons. Opinions, actions and will are properties of the Psyche, but do not exist within any of its component parts.

Some individuals have good cognitive abilities, and are able to predict the likely outcome of making one choice versus another. They may, nevertheless, knowingly choose a less rewarding over a more rewarding alternative. The technical term for this perverse tendency is: Impulsivity.

Dependence occurs when the individual becomes unable to control incentive use despite its obvious destructive consequences. Despite sincere attempts to quit or cut down the individual predictably relapses to the scold from self or others: “Don’t you have any willpower?”

Willpower
Free will refers to the idea that we have the ability to intentionally influence our actions. The contrasting view, Determinism, holds that we actually have no free will, because all of our decisions and actions are completely determined by a set of causes, though they may be unknowable to us. Determinists believe that the experience that we have free will is merely an illusion.

There is a third, or middle, position: Libertarianism – not to be confused with political libertarianism. This view holds that human behavior is determined by many causes including, biological factors, psychological conditioning, and current social pressures, but this very causality provides the opportunity for us to have an intentional influence on how things play out. The more we discover about the cause-and-effect relationships, the more power we have to impose our will upon the world.

Consider the turkey; it doesn’t have free will yet it provides excellent care for its young. Turkeys spend much time warming and cleaning their young; but this complex behavior is triggered by one thing – the “cheep cheep” sound of her chicks. If the chick makes that sound the mother will care for it, otherwise she will ignore it. In a research project a polecat, the turkey’s natural enemy, was stuffed with a tape recording of the “cheep cheep” sound. When the stuffed pole cat was pulled by string to approach turkey she attacked it viciously, but when the taped sound was turned on, the turkey not only did not attack it, but gathered it under her to comfort it. When the sound was turned off she again attacked it.

Unlike turkeys whose behavior is determined by specific aspects of their immediate environment; some humans are able to set long range goals, develop plans, and make adjustments to the plan until their goal is achieved - their life’s course appears to be self-determined. Advocates of freewill argue that a new phenomenon emerged with human cognition, which makes us fundamentally different from turkeys. Alternatively, determinists argue that it may just seem that way because we are so much more complex than turkeys.

We cannot resolve the free will debate by simply asking people whether they intended to do something or not, because we cannot be sure whether the intention led to the behavior or the behavior led to the experience of intention. The subjective experience of free will is not evidence for its existence.

We can never be sure that A causes B, as there could always be a third variable C that causes both of them. While it seems that our intentions cause our actions, there may be causes, of which we are unaware, that produce both of them. In fact, there is evidence that even before we are aware of the intention to perform an action, the neural precursors of the action have already occurred. For example, subjects were told to note the time on a clock when they made the decision to press a button, and then to press the button. They took 0.2 seconds on average to press the button, after they decided to do so. EEG monitoring of their brain waves, however, revealed a spike 0.3 seconds before they decided to press the button. 1

Even if willful control of our immediate behavior is an illusion, we can use our understanding of cause-and-effect relationships to intentionally influence the course of events. This kit contains information and tools that can help its user change a tragic life’s course into a heroic one.

Willpower – overriding the path of least resistance to follow the intended path – is taxing, so conscious, free choice must be restricted to a small proportion of human behavior. Following the path of least resistance is the default, because it does not make demands on the cognitive resources required to consciously guide behavior. For this reason it is desirable for the intended behaviors to be expressed automatically without needing to be instigated and then guided by expensive acts of will. The limited conscious resources are better spared for those occasions when there are real options and choices of which paths to take.

To utilize the gift of rational processing it is important to appreciate when it is available and when it is not, as well as what it can and cannot do:

 Rational processing is only possible when there is a surplus of cognitive resources. It is not available when cognitive resources are otherwise occupied by complex cognitive demands, strong emotional states, or diminished by fatigue or intoxication.

 Rational processing is too slow to influence behavior in real time. Performance, to be smooth and responsive to a changing world, requires a rapid, holistic processing. Typically when you try to consciously control ongoing behavior, you disrupt it.

 Rational processing can produce rapid change, e.g., “I used to believe in the tooth fairy, but then I realized that it was my mother, and since then have never relapsed to the earlier view.” This is contrasted with the many repetitions required to change a habit.

 Rational processing can influence future behavior through a variety of means including: pre-commitment, rehearsal of desired performance, modification of environments.

Procedural Skill and the Acquisition of Control
Operating the bio-psycho-social system you inhabit is a bit like driving a car. To operate the motor vehicle you must appreciate that pressing the accelerator makes it go faster, turning the wheel steers it, etc. Once you learn how it works it then becomes a matter of practice – with some guidance from dad or a driving instructor – to achieve competence.

Those who live in cold climates are forced to develop additional skills to cope with icy roads. While it seems unfair that northerners have an extra burden to bear, fairness is irrelevant. Northerners and southerners must each cope with the reality they are presented. As partial compensation for the additional demands, northerners get to be better drivers in icy conditions than southerners.

Your relationship with the incentive has created dangers with which you must now cope. The key to good outcome is developing the competence to manage your high-risk situations successfully; after all you are bound to encounter them again.

Depletion of Willpower
According to Freud, the ego is the part of the psyche that must deal with the reality of the external world by mediating between conflicting inner and outer pressures. A Victorian gentleman standing on the street might feel urged by his “id” to head for the brothel and by his “superego” to go to church, but it is ultimately left up to his “ego” to start his feet walking in one direction or the other. Freud was fond of the analogy of horse and rider, because, as he said, the rider (analogous to the ego) is generally in charge of steering but is sometimes unable to prevent the horse from going where it wants to go. In fact, it requires some energy to control the “horse”, and recent research demonstrates that this energy can be depleted: Depletion of willpower refers to a temporary exhaustion of the Psyche’s capacity to engage in volitional action – including controlling the environment, controlling the self, making choices, and initiating action. Like muscle power, it can be strengthened with regular exercise, though it may be exhausted by trying to do too much too soon.



















Footnotes:
1. Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W. and Pearl, D. K. (1983). Time of conscious intention to act in
relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness potential). The unconscious initiation of a freely
voluntary act. Brain, 102, 623–642.