Abstract
For several decades volitional concepts have been widely neglected in psychology. Today, we have reasons to believe that the philosophical objections against their use do not justify that theoretical abstinence (Kuhl, 1984). Modern conceptions of volition emerging in various subfields of psychology demonstrate that the criticisms concerning introspectionistic, mentalistic, and moralistic connotations of classical concepts of volition can be overcome without removing those concepts altogether. In this article, we will summarize our own approach to volition, which developed from a motivational perspective, compare it to some current cognitive approaches to volition, and present the results of several experiments that illustrate the commonalities and differences between motivational and cognitive approaches.
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Kuhl, J., Kazen-Saad, M. (1988). A Motivational Approach to Volition: Activation and De-Activation of Memory Representations Related to Uncompleted Intentions. In: Hamilton, V., Bower, G.H., Frijda, N.H. (eds) Cognitive Perspectives on Emotion and Motivation. NATO ASI Series, vol 44. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2792-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2792-6_3
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