WILL, in psychology, is sometimes used as synonymous witi conation (q.v.), but more usually in the restricted sense of delib erate decision, as contrasted with mere impulse (q.v.) or desire In an act of will there is a deliberate choice of one of severa: alternatives, and frequently a conscious reference to the interests of the subject's self as a whole. People sometimes speak as though the will were a kind of independent entity or faculty which makes the decisions, etc. But that is only a loose way of talking. As Spinoza and Locke pointed out long ago, there is nc will apart from particular acts or processes of willing; and it is not the will that wills but the whole self that does it. Similarly
with the related hypostasis of "will-power" or "strength of will.' There is no strong "will," but there are strong-willed characters, that is, people who can pursue distant ends (good or bad) with great perseverance ; weak-willed people, on the other hand, are easily influenced and carried away by every instinct or impulse or desire that prompts them from time to time, and cannot subordi nate them to the pursuit of remote ends. For the problem of the freedom of the will see FREE-WILL. See also PSYCHOLOGY, and the bibliography given there.