8} it is
"ideomotor", or directly aroused by an idea or thought. It may be so
aroused and still be involuntary. We think of a certain result and our
muscles produce this result, though we did not really mean to do this
act ourselves. The thought arouses the movement because it has
previously been linked with the movement. A thought which has
previously served as the stimulus to an act will tend to have this
effect again, unless inhibited by some contrary stimulus. There is no
need of a definite _consent_ to the act, provided there is nothing
present to inhibit it.

Good examples of ideomotor action can be observed among the audience
at an athletic contest. You are watching one of your team do the pole
vault, for instance, and are so much absorbed in his performance and
so desirous for him to succeed that you identify yourself with him to
a degree. He is rising to clear the high bar, and the thought of his
clearing it, monopolizing your mind and leaving no room for the
inhibitory thought that the performer is down there in the field and
you up here in the stand, causes you to make an incipient leg movement
as if you yourself were vaulting.

Voluntary action, in the fullest sense, occurs when you realize the
situation and are definitely conscious of yourself, that is to say,
when you differentiate yourself clearly out of the total situation,
and not only imagine some change to be made, but think of that change
as to be produced _by you_, without at the same time having any
contrary thought to inhibit actual execution.

Conflict and Decision

It appears that in our "digging" we have now struck another vein, for
here we have the fact of one tendency running contrary to another and
inhibiting it. Conflict of desires and the consequent necessity of
_choosing_ between {529} them, is thus brought vividly to our
attention. Every one would at once agree that "will" and "choice"
belong closely together. The most distinctly voluntary acts occur when
two alternatives are thought of, and one of them is chosen.

Organized as we are by nature, that is to say, on a large scale, but
incompletely--environed as we are, with multitudinous stimuli
constantly playing on us and arousing contrary tendencies--we cannot
hope to escape conflict of motives and the necessity of making
decisions. Every decision made, every conflict resolved, is a step in
the further organization of the individual. It may be a step in a good
direction, or in