The 8 types of joy and how to identify them

Different ways in which joy can be expressed through our gestures and actions.

Among all the Wide range of emotions that we can experience, probably the one we all want to experience is joy. It is a fundamental emotion whose presence not only generates pleasure but seems to facilitate our life in all aspects and domains and also usually implies that everything or at least something that matters to us and excites us is working as we would like it to.

But the truth is that we do not always experience joy for the same things or in the same way, or sometimes this may be superficial or manifest itself despite being nonexistent, or even be a symptom that something is working incorrectly. That is why we can speak of different types of joywhich we are going to see throughout this article.

What is joy?

Joy is one of the basic and most important emotions of the human being, being also one of the most rewarding and appetitive.being also one of the most gratifying and appetitive. It is a sensation that is linked to the existence of a series of activations and physiological effects (among them an increase in the cardiac and respiratory rate and the secretion of hormones and endorphins) and that generally occurs on the basis of an experience (whether this or internal) that the subject values at a cognitive level as favorable.

It usually generates typical behavioral manifestations such as the smile (sincere joy being the only emotion that in this act generates the activation of certain ocular muscles), or laughter. It is generally associated with and is one of the fundamental parts of the concepts we call happiness, fulfillment or well-being.

Regardless of the well-being it generates, joy is a profoundly adaptive emotion: it facilitates exploration and contact with others and the environment, as well as stimulating creativity and mental flexibility. It has been observed that it accelerates information processing and facilitates the search for new and more effective methodologies.

It makes it easier to socialize and live in community and also favors the repetition of the behaviors that have generated this sensation. Joy also favors the observation of the information as a whole rather than each of the elements that are part of the situation, which in turn can lead to a loss of attention to detail and even to committing more risks in the performance.

In fact, it has been observed that feeling joy is positive for our health, since it improves our immune system, is linked to a better cardiac recovery after coronary events and improves the subject's prognosis in a large number of disorders, diseases and injuries. It also reduces or counteracts the reactions of negative emotions, such as anxiety or sadness.

Different types of joy

Most people and in a generalized way we tend to think of joy as a unique and unitary concept, and it is not usual to stop and talk about the possible existence of different types of joy. However, it is possible to make a brief classification according to its suitability in relation to the situation experienced or even the level of realism with which it is experienced.

1. Authentic joy

We understand by authentic or felt joy that type of joy that is truly experienced by the person who claims to do so, there being a positive state of mind in which there is physiological activation and excitement and a feeling of happiness, desire to experiment and well-being. This sensation appears naturally and is expressed outwardly in a fluid way, being the product of a situation or achievement.It is the product of a situation or achievement considered positive by the subject.

2. Hilarious joy

Hilarious joy is that which appears as a result of a sense of humor or physiological reactions that do not necessarily appear in a situation of happiness and well-being but after the capture and processing of stimuli or situations that are generally unexpected. generally unexpected stimuli or situations that we find humorous.. It is one of the most frequent types of joy.

3. Derived from hedonia

Joy can have diverse origins, and participates in phenomena as relevant as the perception of happiness. As far as happiness is concerned, one can become happy and experience joy on the basis of different aspects. One of them derives from the experience of pleasure, obtained through the satisfaction of the most basic needs and desires of the person, as well as the avoidance of what generates discomfort.

4. Derived from eudaimonia

Together with hedonia, another cause of happiness and the joy that usually forms part of it is what is known as eudaimonia: in this case, one experiences well-being and joy derived from the fact of working on one's own development and the pursuit of goals and purposes. This is the joy that comes from self-fulfillment.

5. Feigned

We understand by feigned joy that set of signs of a positive, expansive and even happy state of mind that is carried out intentionally and without there really being an emotionality that justifies them, being this joy a falsification generated with some kind of purpose. So we are in fact facing someone who is not really feeling joy. To recognize it, the most effective is to notice if there are discordances between the gestures of the mouth and the eyes when smiling.

6. Cynical

It is a type of joy very similar to the feigned joy and that in fact could be considered a subtype of this one, the cynical joy is that joy manifested as a mask or defense mechanism in order to avoid showing another emotion, usually negative.generally negative.

7. Pathological: manic and hypomanic states.

It is likely that, in general, whenever we imagine the presence of joy, we do so in a context in which it is positive, improves our mood and facilitates our well-being, and is usually caused by a beneficial event that gives rise to this emotion.

However, it is also possible to find people who experience a type of joy that is not normative but pathological, which escapes from the control of the situation and that and can become overflowing and become maladaptive and even dangerous..

This is what happens in some pathologies such as manic episodes typical of bipolar disorder, some cases of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders or after substance intoxication. More than of authentic joy we would be speaking of situations of euphoria, in which expansiveness, logorrhea and increase of the speed of the thought arises. In such circumstances it is possible to lose control of the situation and to suffer a decrease in the capacity for judgment and risk analysis, to the point where delusions of grandeur and suffer a decrease in the capacity for judgment and risk analysis, to the point where delusions of grandeur, irritability and hostility towards others may appear.

8. Parathymic

This is understood as a type of joy which is considered pathological because this emotion appears in a situation that does not correspond to something that generates joy for the subject or that appears at a time or in a situation that should not generate it (it is not necessarily that it occurs in a situation in which it is socially considered improper, which is also the case, but even that the emotion of joy appears despite the fact that what happened may actually be sad for the subject himself) or in which the physiological expression does not accompany the emotion felt.

9. Moria: empty joy

Another type of joy, present among other cases in people with brain injury, brain tumors, cognitive impairment or dementia, is moria. This is understood as a positive and expansive mood, but empty in content, which appearsthat appears without there being a reason for such joy. It is common for people with this symptom to show a desire to joke, eccentric behavior and extreme cheerfulness regardless of the context.