Joy
Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Joy (disambiguation).
Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You
can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (January 2020)
Laughter is a typical expression of joy
Part of a series on
Emotions
Plutchik-wheel.svgPlutchik Dyads.svg
AffectClassificationIn animalsEmotional intelligenceMood
Regulation InterpersonalDysregulation
Valence
Emotions
vte
The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and
is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.[1]
Dictionary definitions
Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense depression a reaction to an
external happening, e.g. a physical sensation experienced, or receiving good news.[2][3]
Distinction vs similar states
C. S. Lewis saw a clear distinction between joy, pleasure, and happiness: "I sometimes
wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy",[4] and "I call it Joy, which is
here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and
Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with
them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again... I doubt whether
anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the
pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is."[5]
Michela Summa says that the distinction between joy and happiness is that, "Joy
accompanies the process through and through, whereas happiness seems to be more
strictly tied to the moment of achievement of the process... joy is not only a direct
emotional response to an event that is embedded in our life-concerns but is also tightly
bound to the present moment, whereas happiness presupposes an evaluative stance
concerning one period of one's life or one's own life as a whole."[6]
Causes
The causes of joy have been ascribed to various sources.