Volition and personality : action versus state orientation This is an impressive book which presents a profoundly new approach to analyzing human behavior. The fundamental concept is to focus on how people link motivation with action and why they do or do not stick with their original intentions. The fascinating studies reported here attempt to separate people into two groups: (1) State oriented individuals who focus under stress on past present or future states rather than on options available for action; versus (2) Action oriented individuals who focus under stress on action alternatives. The experiments which were performed include ones analyzing the memory mechanisms that underlie the rigid versus flexible maintenance of intentions. Also discussed are studies in which a new scale system has been applied to phenomena such as learned helplessness depression alienation procrastination self regulation decision making and athletic performance. This book will be of great interest to both behavioral and cognitive psychologists psychophysiologists and specialists in sport as well as aviation psychology. In the latter case for example neurological tests can be applied in connection with the fundamental concepts of this book in an effort to predict pilot skill.