Now here’s an interesting concept – “free won’t” – which, it is argued, is an essential part of free will!
Neuroscientists have shown that we use two different parts of our brain – one to develop an intention to do something; and a separate part to hold off doing it. If someone can’t hold off then they act impulsively. For example, children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who tend to have big problems with self-control. The researchers who did this work are calling the holding off ability “free won’t”.
This is such an interesting idea. Probably somebody has told you at some stage in your life “Count to ten!” – that’s free won’t. This skill is the skill of choosing, so that your experience of life isn’t driven by unprocessed and uncontrolled feelings and urges (a life that is driven this way often feels as if it is happening to the person rather than giving them the sense that they are the active creators of their own lives).
Here’s a great quote from the researchers –
“The capacity to withhold an action that we have prepared but reconsidered is an important distinction between intelligent and impulsive behavior,” says Brass, “and also between humans and other animals.”
On the other hand, I wonder, do procrastinators have an overdeveloped “free won’t”? Is this the part of the brain they use to keep all those intentions under control?!
Heroes Not Zombies 
This reminds me of M. Scott Peck’s concept of ‘delaying gratification’. Seemingly simple concepts, but if they’re not learned and exercised early in life, people really tend to struggle later.
I’ve heard people argue that the impulsive behavior commonly associated with ADHD is a result, rather than a cause (in connection with not being taught various tools to restrain and resist impulse.)
Interesting things to ponder.
(Consequently, Peck still manages to creep into my skull and make me feel guilty when I procrastinate.)
Thank you for this post. I am sure that master procrastinators, with their superior cerebral equipment, do have a more developed free won’t.
I am aware of doing the thing I should not be doing, for example, writing this post, and not doing the thing I should be doing, getting ready to go out. My urge to pleasure now overrides the longer term consequences of being late.
Is my action in the moment an example of crastination, procrastination, or anti-crastination?
Robert J. Sternberg edited the book I have in front of me called, “Why smart people can be so stupid.” Here is an interesting bit from an essay by David N. Perkins (The Engine of Folly). “Various studies suggest [always something of a red flag] that conscious intentions to act immediately do not initiate the action but rather reflect a process already set in motion at a nonconscious level.”
I think this is why “Recipe Culture,” as I like to call it doesn’t work. There are so many how-to books, but I don’t think we change behavior by following a set of edicts. My mind has a mind of its own.
Somewhere in this same book are a bunch of studies about young children trying to resist cookies. They do much better when they don’t see them. It just goes to show that temptation works.
Oh my goodness damewiggy M Scott Peck! That’s a name I haven’t come across in years! He’s one of those of folk who I think wrote and interesting book then went rapidly on to become an industry, a brand, a……how to put it? Ah yes, from A Road Less Travelled to Books Less Read! Funny how things from a book can stick somewhere in your mind for years and years.
Christopher, you read such interesting books! I can’t remember just now where I read it but I once read an interesting example of Venus Williams’ serve – can’t remember the detailed numbers but if you take the speed of her serve, the length of the tennis court and the time it takes for a visual stimulus to get to the cortex and send motor signals to the arm – then there isn’t enough time to see the ball coming and make the right moves to hit it back! Somehow, the “seeing” the ball comes AFTER the hitting it back! Weird, huh?
Oscar Wilde, I’m sure, will be somewhere in your head when you say “It just goes to show that tempation works” –
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it… I can resist everything but temptation. “