From Awe to Compassion: Exploring Different States of Selfless Joy

May 29, 2025 | behavioural sciences

About this episode

Positive emotions have gained significant research attention in recent decades, with particular focus on ‘self-transcendent emotions’ – those that shift our attention away from our self-interest toward something beyond ourselves. Despite growing interest in these states of selfless joy – which include awe, gratitude and love – most have been studied separately, leaving researchers unclear about how they are connected. A new study by Angela Gaia Abatista and Florian Cova at the University of Geneva offers the first comprehensive framework for categorising these uplifting emotions. Their research reveals that self-transcendent emotions aren’t just one uniform family but can be divided into distinct categories with different functions. Read More

Original Article Reference

Summary of the article: ‘Are Self-transcendent Emotions One Big Family? An Empirical Taxonomy of Positive Self-transcendent Emotion Labels’, published in Affective Science, doi.org/10.1007/s42761-023-00194-1

Contact

For further information, you can connect with Dr Angela Gaia F. Abatista and Dr Florian Cova at agf.abatista@gmail.com

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