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Some
writers on motivation, especially in the German psychological
tradition (e.g.,
Heckhausen,
1991; Kuhl, 2001), restrict the term motivation to the processes and
factors that determine which goals an individual will pursue; they
then classify as volition (from the Latin root for the will)
the factors that regulate how the individual carries out the
pursuit—persistence, vigor, and efficiency. Thus, in this usage, the
term motivation includes only the initial factors that
determine an individual’s choice of goals, leaving the rest to
volition. In contrast, in the American tradition the term motivation
includes volition; volitional processes are simply a subset of
motivation. The difference is purely semantic, but the semantics
entail advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of the German
approach is that there is a separate term (motivation) for those
factors that determine choice of goals, just as there is a term
(volition) for how the goal is pursued. In the usual American usage
there is no such generally accepted word for the factors that
determine goal choice, because motivation covers the whole range of
goal-related processes, from determining the choice of goals to the
end of the pursuit. The advantage of the broader usage of the term motivation
is that it provides a single term to refer to all goal-related
processes. This chapter and most of the other chapters will abide by
the broader definition of motivation.
What
is important here is to keep in mind the importance of volitional
processes. They are part of motivational structure, and they are part
of what may need to change in counseling. For example, when an
individual gives up too easily in the face of difficulty or uses
self-defeating coping strategies such as procrastinating or
ruminating, addressing these is part of effective intervention. Thus,
a comprehensive approach to motivational counseling must include both
a person’s choices of goals and the volitional means of pursuing
them.
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