The Will to Flourish: Agentic Love

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Degree type
Master of Applied Positive Psychology
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Discipline
Psychology
Subject
Love, Agency, Will, Flourishing
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2025-07-15
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Jason Reed Wagner
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Abstract

This capstone introduces agentic love, a principled and purposeful fusion of agency and love that expands the science of human flourishing. While positive psychology emphasizes agency as a function of efficacy, future-minded optimism, and imagination (Seligman, 2021), most theories overlook the volitional, ethical, and sustaining power of love. Drawing on extensive historical, philosophical, and psychological sources, this project argues that love is not merely an emotional experience; it is a chosen and committed expression of agency itself. When imposed, love becomes an obligation, and agency gives way to compliance. But when enacted freely, love ennobles agency, and agency animates love. This fusion presupposes that love, in this form, is the highest expression of human agency. It is generative, not passive, driving meaningful connection and moral development. Through theoretical synthesis and applied models, this project defines the construct of agentic love and demonstrates its relevance across parenting, leadership, and education. Nine archetypes and evidence-based interventions articulate how agentic love fosters well-being at both individual and systemic levels. By reframing love as a deliberate, ethically grounded act of will, this work expands the conceptual boundaries of agency, offering a transformative lens for understanding agentic love as the will to flourish.

Advisor
Khan, Faisal
Date of degree
2025-07-15
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