“LOVE, as a Pathway to Prosocial Behaviour: A Theoretical and Pilot Study Using the LUVORA Framework for Social Cohesion”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62338/5x4jbd79Keywords:
Love, Prosocial Behaviour, Social Cohesion, Positive Psychology, LUVORA FrameworkAbstract
In an era of technological hyper-connectivity and emotional disconnection, the capacity to cultivate empathy, compassion, and moral responsibility has become a pressing social necessity. This study explores love as a transformative psychological and ethical construct capable of enhancing prosocial behaviour and social cohesion. Grounded in Positive Psychology and informed by Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions, Haidt’s Moral Emotions Theory, and cultural models of relational selfhood (Markus & Kitayama, 2010), the paper introduces the LUVORA Framework, a multidimensional model comprising six virtues: Love, Uniformity, Virtue, Openness, Resilience, and Acceptance. Through this framework, love is conceptualised as both an emotional state and a moral practice that and connects individual well-being with collective harmony. The study proposes a qualitative, exploratory pilot study involving twelve Sri Lankan community facilitators who will participate in a two-day workshop designed to embody the LUVORA principles through storytelling, reflective journaling, mindfulness, and group dialogue. Data from reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). The anticipated findings suggest that love-based reflection will heighten emotional awareness, strengthen empathy, and deepen moral reasoning, ultimately fostering greater community engagement and social trust. The study further argues that integrating emotional cultivation with ethical reflection represents a critical advance in contemporary Positive Psychology, transforming it from a framework of personal happiness to one of relational and societal flourishing. By situating the LUVORA model within Sri Lanka’s collectivist context, this research contributes to the decolonisation of well-being science, offering a culturally grounded, evidence-informed approach to human connection. It positions love not as sentimentality but as a measurable civic virtue essential for restoring the moral and emotional foundations of modern life.
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