Conation
Category of mental action used in psychology and philosophy of mind
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Through Psychology, Mind and Cognition
Definitions
Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines conation as "an inclination (as an instinct or drive) to act purposefully". The word comes from the Latin words conari (to try) and conatio (an attempt). Hannah et al. define "moral conation" as "the capacity to generate responsibility and motivation to take moral action in the face of adversity and persevere through challenges".
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History
Edwin Boring included a review of the history of the concept in his History of Experimental Psychology, published in 1929, referring to James Ward's typology of cognition, conation, and feeling, and to conation as George Stout's "famous doctrine". The division of the mind into cognition, conation (or desire), and feeling was also described by Immanuel Kant. However, Norman Schur more recently included the word "conation" among his 1000 most challenging (or oft-forgotten or unknown) words in the English language. For George Berkeley in his essay De Motu, it was a term to be avoided, because "we do not rightly understand" its meaning.
Research
Neuropsychology researchers Ralph M. Reitan and Deborah Wolfson looked at the performance of specific tasks which were "judged to require conative ability" in a research study published in 2000 and surmised that "conation, which has been a neglected dimension of behavior in neuropsychological assessment, may be the missing link between cognitive ability and prediction of performance capabilities in everyday life". Recent development in education research reconceptualizes conation in the epistemic context, where disposition, motivation, goal orientation, and volition associated with knowledge co-construction are characterized, highlighting the social aspect of conation.