I am interested in the concept of "will power." I would like to know a
couple of things about it:
1- How has it been defined and explained?
2- How does it work (various theories)?
3- Have any books been written on the subject?

I assume there is a mountain of garbage out there from motivational
speakers and the like.  I am looking for more substantive information,
such as psychological explanations/theories, philosophical
discussions, even biological explanations and the like.

Most searches turn up Nietzsche's "will to power" which is not what I
want. The vein of information I am looking for is this: deeper than
self-help fads and motivational mumbo jumbo -to my perception- lies
will power, that which makes self improvement either successful or
not.  What is the literature on this?

It might also be termed "discipline" but don't confuse it with
discipline that is imposed by others.  It has to come from within

Dear JSL,

unaami-ga has provided an excellent list of books and materials. 

Here are some other directions you can look, and other words to search
if you want to keep exploring the concept.

The search you need is 'self-discipline'. There are lots of links to
articles and discussions about this with respect to children, which
makes a great deal of sense. You don't grow up with will-power or
discipline if you're not raised with it.  So, the training must start
with children.

And the real philosophers are those in the trenches, dealing with
those who haven't been raised with it.

THE "POWER" OF SELF-DISCIPLINE
Neil Hawlk, Director, Somers After-School Day Care Program 
http://www.nncc.org/Guidance/sac46_power.self-disc.html

Quotes about this come from as far back as Plato, Horace, Aristotle
and Lao Tzu
http://www.leadershipnow.com/disciplinequotes.html

Defining the concept....

Learning Self-Discipline 
by A. Gedrose 
http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/ycca/00000349.htm

"Self-discipline requires an understanding of oneself and an awareness
of the ways in which one can cope with difficulties, frustrations, and
disappointments. Self-discipline affords a person the inclination to
concentrate on a task as long as is necessary to learn, perfect, or
complete it."

If you've ever seen how entities like Amway, and other motivational
groups work, you find that they train people into new habits, so that
they automatically take the desired actions, without the force of
discipline. Much of the foundation for this concept comes from Maxwell
Maltz's (1950s?) book, Psycho-Cybernetics
http://www.psycho-cybernetics.com/zrliving/index.html

Long before, we have the Brahmins
“The Householder Ascetic and the Uses of Self-Discipline” 
Timothy Lubin, Washington & Lee University, USA 
http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint/RAS2001.htm
"This paper challenges the common assumption that asceticism is
something that by definition takes place only on the periphery of
everyday life, and only for “world-transcending” aims.  Drawing on the
Sanskrit Vedic and Dharmashastra literature I will show that the
earliest extant discussions of ascetic principles and practice
appeared in the context of a ritual piety meant to be the norm for
people 'in the world and of the world.'"


'Accountability' - also a good search term

Self-Discipline: Web Sites for Students
http://web.utk.edu/~arox/kidsselfdis.html

In a classroom discussion about the concept of discipline at the
California State University of Dominguez Hills
http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/read08.htm
the word 'respect' pops up. That's a big part of it. Respect for
yourself and others.

Unit 5-The Most Amazing Computer Of All: 
http://www.chemsultants.com/chemworkshops/human.html
"your will power will always come in second to your belief system,
three parts of the thought process-conscious, subconscious and
creative subconscious, definition of blind spots, concept of GI/Go,
actions and decisions are only as wise and accurate as information
they are based on, human beings are more rationalizing than rational
and key to effective change is knowing how to change your dominant
belief system (self-image)."



Can will power be separated from ethics? I don't know?
http://www.charactercounts.org/

Some books:
Discipline: Six Steps to Unleashing Your Hidden Potential
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0759642982/

So, to delve deeper, these are the searches to perform:

1) "will power" -attorney -"Will Power's" -fuel -legal definition
-heir -battery
2) "self-discipline" definition
3) accountability+personal
4) "social responsibility"


Will this help you find the right direction?

Best wishes,

Your TaxMama-ga

Initially I was going to say 4 stars because the answer didn't fully
satisfy my curiosity.  However, then I realized that the reason I
asked it in the first place was that I found so little information on
it.  Given that, the researcher did an excellent job of compiling what
was available on the web and pointing the way towards the next round
of research.  Well done!!

Funnily enough, I'm studying this in the Moral Psychology subject I'm
taking as part of my degree in Philosophy. Most philosophers don't
really talk of will power, more of 'weakness of will'. Basically, the
idea is that people act in whatever they feel is their best interest
(when it's not a moral question, eg. 'is it in my best interest to eat
icecream?). 'Weakness' of will occurs when a person judges one thing
(say, smoking) to be what is in their best interest, even though in
the long term it would be better for them not to. It's sort of like
immediate pleasure taking priority over long-term pleasure. I guess,
then, that being strong-willed is doing what is going to be right for
you (or the world generally) in the long term, even though you might
have to sacrifice immediate pleasures to do so.

Hello, jsi-ga
See NET article/not product at: 
http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000006.htm
http://www.jainworld.com/preksha/mahaprag/pre43.html
Also:
 Article:
                     Action as Will-Power
                      Campbell C.
                      The Sociological Review, February 1999, vol. 47,
no. 1, pp. 48-61(14)
                      Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford, Uk and Boston,
USA
Abstract: 
                      The concept of power, as commonly formulated in
contemporary sociology, is noted to lack any
                      reference to the critical dimension of personal
conative striving, or will-power. This deficiency is
                      shown to stem from an overly cognitive
conception of action, one in which acts are seen to
                      embody choice and meaning but not emotion or
effort, a view that has been reinforced by the
                      use of trivial, easily-accomplished acts as
examples to illustrate the nature of action. A
                      perspective is advocated that redresses this
imbalance; one that accepts that the immediate
                      cause of all true actions is an act of will and
that action is best conceived of as behaviour that
                      individuals allow to happen to them. Power is
then defined as an individual’s ability to initiate
                      and maintain action despite behavioural
resistance, a conceptualization that closely links it to
                      the concept of ‘character’. This perspective on
human conduct is then shown to be identical to
                      that adopted by Weber in The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Sample Books  listed by Library of Congress under will that may have
information on will power:
Ebbard, Richard J. [from old catalog]
                How to acquire and strengthen will-power; modern
psycho-therapy,
                10th ed. 
                London, L. N. Fowler; New York, Fowler & Wells Co.,
1907.
                x, 275 p. 23 cm.
Kennedy, John, 1897- [from old catalog]
                Will-power; ways to develop it, 
                London, The Psychologist [1938]
                56 p. 19 cm.
Action control, from cognition to behavior / edited by Julius Kuhl and
Jürgen Beckmann.
                Berlin ; New York : Springer-Verlag, c1985.
                xiv, 286 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Charlton, William, 1935-
                Weakness of will / William Charlton.
                Oxford, UK ; New York, NY, USA : B. Blackwell, 1988.
                196 p. ; 23 cm.

To see the entire list of books given go to http://catalog.loc.gov and
enter will  in the search box and choose subject browse.

Hope this helps,
una amiga

It's an interesting subject.  Here's a short excerpt from "Changing
for Good," by James O. Prochaska et al, ISBN 0-380-72572-X.  It's a
book that's devoted to the process of personal change.

"When we ask successful changers, 'How did you do it?' the universal
answer is, 'Willpower.' Our researach seemd to confirm what everyone
already knew.  When we examine what 'willpower' means to people,
however, two different definitions are given. The first is technical:
a belief in our abilities to change behavior, and the decision to act
on that belief.

"The second, sweeping definition is that willpower represents every
single technique, every effort under the sun, one can use in order to
change. If this is so, then it is inevitable that it takes willpower
to change. This is a classic case of circular reasoning.

"Self-changers do indeed use willpower in the first, true sense of the
word, but it is only one of nine change processes, the one we call
commitment. People who rely solely upon willpower set themselves up
for failure. If you believe willpower is all it takes, then you try to
change and fail, it seems reasonable to cnclude that you don't have
enough willpower. This may lead you to give up. But failure to change
when relying only on willpower just means that willpower alone is not
enough."