Construct · 3 fields · 5 citations

Where does will collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, three constructs Nearest construct by meaningwillfulnesscompare the meanings
How to read this

Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to will is willfulness.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

volition becomes measurablewill3 CONSTRUCTSThe willAUGUSTINE · VOLUNTASWillpowerACH · ACT OF WILLWillKIELHOFNER · OCCUPATIONAL

Spokes are fields; dashed arcs are shared lineage. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

1818The will1910Willpower1980Will
2026

Drag to watch the word get claimed. Each field appears at the publication date of the earliest source cited for it. Tap a year to see which.

Philosophy

The faculty of volition; the metaphysical will

The power of the mind to choose and to originate action, treated as a distinct faculty of the person. Augustine of Hippo introduced voluntas, the will, as a separate faculty of the soul in works such as On Free Choice of the Will (ca. 395), and Aquinas later refined it, before Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (1818) recast the will as the underlying reality of the world and of the acting self. The referent is a philosophical faculty of volition, argued over rather than counted, and it is distinct from a legal document and from the psychologist's limited capacity for self-control.[1][2]

Unit
A posited faculty of the person, defined by argument rather than by count
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Not measured empirically; examined through philosophical argument and analysis of agency

Psychology

Willpower; the capacity for volitional self-control

The capacity to control one's own impulses and to carry an intended action through against competing urges. Narziss Ach's 1910 Über den Willensakt und das Temperament (On the act of will and temperament) launched the experimental study of volition, proposing a determining tendency that drives an intention toward completion, and Baumeister and colleagues' 1998 studies later modeled self-control as a limited resource that can be worn down, an effect they named ego depletion. The referent is an empirically tested capacity of a person, tracked in behavior, and it is neither a legal document nor a metaphysical faculty.[3][4]

Unit
One person's capacity to override an impulse on a given task
Recovery means
Described as recovering with rest, positive mood, or glucose, though the size of the effect is debated
Measured by
Operationalised with sequential self-control tasks, delay-of-gratification paradigms, and trait self-control scales

Occupational therapy

a person's thoughts and feelings about what they value, enjoy and feel capable of doing.

In occupational therapy, will refers to a person's thoughts and feelings about what they value, enjoy and feel capable of doing. This meaning comes from Kielhofner (1980) in American Journal of Occupational Therapy.[5]

Unit
Recovery means
Measured by

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how will sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this collision

Nearby collisions

self-control4 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one term, three theoriesagency6 fields · 12 citationsjingle · one name, six constructsego4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Augustine. (1993). On free choice of the will (T. Williams, Trans.). Hackett. (Original work published ca. 395)
  2. Schopenhauer, A. (2010). The world as will and representation (J. Norman, A. Welchman, & C. Janaway, Trans.; Vol. 1). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1818)
  3. Ach, N. (1910). Über den Willensakt und das Temperament. Quelle & Meyer.
  4. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252–1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252
  5. Kielhofner, G., & Burke, J. P. (1980). A Model of Human Occupation, Part 1. Conceptual Framework and Content. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 34(9), 572-581. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.34.9.572

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct