ABSTRACT
This chapter is about the thwarted plans and the frustrated expectations. The experience that things don't always work out as planned is a common one. The chapter begins with two complementary phenomena, weakness of will and excess of will. The chapter considers frustration due to the structure of interaction among individuals. Individuals with rigid and compulsive personalities are often unable to give themselves a break. These rigid characters are weak-willed, prisoners of their self-control techniques. The idea of excessive will encompasses a very different set of phenomena, which can be summarized as "willing what cannot be willed". It is notoriously the case that certain states are very recalcitrant to attempts to bring them about intentionally. They are essentially by-products of actions undertaken for other ends. Both varieties of hyperrationality—excess of will, and the search for the optimum that neglects the costs of searching—are instances of self-defeating plans.
