The Motivation-Volition Divide and Its Resolution in Action-Phase Models of Developmental Regulation

Abstract

I discuss the long-standing divide in motivational psychology between issues of motivation (i.e., why strive for certain goals) and of volition (i.e., how to strive for chosen goals). This debate began in the 1920s between Lewin (1926) and Ach (1905, 1910) and was revived in the 1980s by Kuhl (1983) who proposed a distinction between motivation (choice of goal) and volition (pursuit of goal). Action-phase models lay out motivation and volition sequentially and are useful for investigating processes of developmental regulation across the life course. Shifts between different phases of action are salient during transitions affecting opportunities from better to worse or vice versa. Several studies have addressed phenomena of interphase adaptation of motivational mind-sets to shifting goal-related opportunities in the context of life-course transitions.

Notes

Haase, C. M., Heckhausen, J., & Köller, O. (in press). Goal engagement during the school-worktransition: Essential for girls, beneficial for all. Journal of Research on Adolescence.