Three Psychological Capacities that Empower Human Agency

Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash

I grew up doing martial arts, and one of the best lessons my instructor taught his students is to not talk in ways that create mental barriers to self-improvement. When struggling to become proficient in a new technique, if a student said "I can't do it," he or she would be told to drop and do a set of pushups. The words "I can't" were not allowed. We were instead to say something like "I am struggling to do this," or "I am finding this difficult," or something along those lines that acknowledged the challenge while keeping open the possibility for advancement and mastery. This subtle shift in language helped us view difficulties not as insurmountable barriers but as opportunities for personal progress. This is just one example of how we were taught not just to have a positive attitude but to develop an agency mindset—to define ourselves as individuals able to govern our own thoughts, emotions, and actions and to actively shape our own futures.

Agency stands at the very heart of what makes human progress and flourishing possible. As cognitively advanced beings, we possess the remarkable ability to regulate and plan our lives with a degree of sophistication unmatched in the natural world. While we should acknowledge that certain aspects of our existence lie beyond our control and that our attitudes and aspirations are influenced by our environments, we nonetheless wield extraordinary power to make decisions and direct our own life story.

But our agency is of little value if we don’t recognize and utilize it. To truly flourish, we must deliberately cultivate and exercise our inherent capacity to take ownership of our lives. This intentional engagement with our agentic capacities forms the cornerstone of our work at the Human Flourishing Lab, where we explore the psychological characteristics and resources that enable people to direct their lives toward reaching their full potential and making meaningful contributions that improve the world around them and help advance human progress.

I'm delighted to share a new paper from our research fellow, Dr. Andrew Abeyta, that examines one particularly insightful framework for understanding human agency. While psychology offers several useful theoretical approaches to agency, Andrew focuses on the tripartite model proposed by Dr. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology. This model offers a particularly valuable action and future-oriented framework for understanding human agency, with important implications for how we might more effectively harness this inherent human capacity to enhance our own lives and help others better appreciate and utilize their agency.

Seligman's model proposes three distinct yet interconnected psychological components that together constitute personal agency. The first component is efficacy, which refers to our belief in our ability to accomplish specific goals. When we feel capable of taking necessary actions to achieve desired outcomes, we're more likely to initiate and persist in goal-related behaviors. Research consistently shows that efficacious individuals perform better across domains including education, athletics, and professional endeavors. They also demonstrate greater resilience when facing challenges. Research identifies several ways to strengthen efficacy. Through these evidence-based strategies, which Andrew describes in his paper, people can develop greater confidence in their abilities and become more effective agents of change in their lives.

The second component in Seligman's model is optimism, which represents our general expectation that positive outcomes will occur and negative ones can be avoided. This forward-looking disposition serves as a powerful motivational resource, helping us initiate goals and persist through difficulties. Optimistic individuals demonstrate better problem-solving abilities, more productive coping strategies, and greater skill at knowing when to disengage from unproductive goals. While optimism has genetic components, research suggests it can be cultivated through specific positive thinking practices. Andrew discusses these in his paper.

Imagination encompasses the third component of agency in Seligman's model, representing our capacity to visualize hypothetical situations beyond present circumstances. This includes prospection (thinking about future actions and possibilities), mentalizing (imagining others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions), and counterfactual thinking (considering "what if" scenarios). Our tendency to imagine serves adaptive functions, motivating growth, sustaining motivation during challenges, and helping us develop effective goal strategies. Imagination also facilitates productive social relationships and helps us learn from both success and failure.

Seligman argues and research supports that these dimensions work in concert. We are the most agentic when efficacy, optimism, and imagination function optimally together. 

By understanding these components of agency, individuals and organizations can develop targeted strategies to strengthen personal agency and promote human flourishing and progress. Whether through structured interventions or everyday practices, nurturing these psychological capacities empowers people to take ownership of their lives and create meaningful change regardless of circumstances. If you are interested in learning more about personal agency and how to better utilize and promote it, I encourage you to read Andrew’s excellent paper which can be found here.

Have a great weekend! 

Clay