david perkins, the thoughtful will

8/10/2019 David Perkins, The Thoughtful Will

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David Perkins, Harvard Graduate School of Education, presentation at the 13th

International Conference on Thinking, Norrkoping, Sweden, 17-21 June, 2007


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Guarantee

Double your Willpower

or No Money Back


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Akrasia


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We think how late we shallbe, how the duties of theday will suffer; we say, Imust get up, this isignominious, etc.; but still

the warm couch feels toodelicious, the cold outsidetoo cruel, and resolutionfaints away and postpones

itself again and again justas it seemed on the vergeof bursting the resistanceand passing over into the

decisive act. William James,Principles of Psychology,1890


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I can resist anythingbut temptation

Oscar Wilde


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Between the idea

And the reality Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response Falls the Shadow.

The Hollow Men, T. S. Eliot


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Good thinking

Deciding what to do

NOT getting ourselves to do it


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Empty folk psychology

Freedom from determinism

Willpower


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The thoughtful will


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Empty folk psychologyor a resource for self-

management


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The case against the will

Empty folkpsychology

sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic


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The case against the will

The false hope syndrome

Polivy and Herman, American

Psychologist, September 2002,Vol. 57, No. 9, 677-689.


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The case for the will: the pedigree

Classic and contemporarysources

AristotleWilliam JamesRoy Baumeister

Travels under other names

Volition, self-control,self-regulation, conation


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The case for the will: The two minds

The doing mind The planning mind(anticipatory planning,

Peter Gardenfors)


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The case for the will: the two minds

Nomind


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Doingmind


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Doingmind andplanning

mind
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Thetrouble

with twominds
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The case for the will: Overuse

The ego depletion model

Baumeister, Psychological Bulletin

(2000, Vol. 126, No. 2, 247-259)


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Folk psychology Real resource


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Freedom fromdeterminism or

freedom from impulse


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Free will as freedom from determinism

Omniscient

god andhuman choice


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Classicalphysics

andquantumphysics


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Neuralprecursors

to consciousintentions


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Free will as freedom from impulse

Not being sphexish

Free will worth having (Elbow Room, Daniel Dennett)

William James too

It is as easy physically to avoid a fight as to begin

one, to pocket ones money as to squander it on onescupidities, to walk away from as towards a coquettesdoor. In all this one sees how the immediate pointof application of the volitional effort lies exclusivelyin the mental world. The whole drama is a mentaldrama.


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Freed from determinism Free from impulse


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The power will versusthe thoughtful will


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The power will


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The power will

A persistent concept

The tempting mental muscle metaphor

Exercise that muscle

...the man who has accustomed himselfsteadily, for day after day, to concentrate

his attention, to wield his energy, forinstance, not to spend money on unnecessarythings, will be well rewarded by his effort.When disasters occur, he will stand firm asa rock even though faced on all sides byruin, while his companions in distress will beswept aside as the chaff from the sieve.

William James


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But

Ego depletion

The false hopesyndrome

Will out of gas


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The thoughtful will

Toe in the water

Jump in


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Thoughtful will: Change your world

Support people(AA, mentor, coach,

minister)

Reminders(progress charts, religiousicons, inspirational figures)

Remove temptations

Public commitment


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Thoughtful will: Change your approach

Small stepsor jump in

Set milestones

Reward yourself

Specific plans(implementationintentions)

Abstract coding(why not what)


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Thoughtful will: Change yourself

Deconditioning

New habits

Reframing,

re-visioning Autosuggestion

Self-talk


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Thoughtful will: The fly in the ointment

Complex thought is ego depletingSchmeichel, Vohs, and Baumeister, Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology, 2003, Vol. 85,

No. 1, 33-46


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Power will Thoughtful will


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Empty folk concept Real resource

Free from determinism Free from impulse

Power will Thoughtful will


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Good thinking

Deciding what to do

AND getting ourselves to do it


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Guarantee

Double your Willpower

or No Money Back

david perkins, the thoughtful will

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