Psychological Reports, 1975, 37, 39-54. @ Psychological Reports 1975

THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY, AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION'B~ CHRIS M. MEADOWS Vanderbili University Summary.-A Joy Scale was constructed of items which describe the phenomenology of joy. Each of 333 Ss was asked to describe a specific instance of joy he had experienced and then to fill out the Joy Scale and the Mood Adjective Check List. A factor analysis of the correlations among items on the Joy Scale was done in order to ascertain whether the hypothesized factors expressing various phenomenological dimensions of joy would be confirmed. The correlations between the Central Joy score and a measure of the Dimensions of Emotion identified rhe specific aspects of the emotion process, such as pleasantness or activation, that were dominant in the affect of joy. Finally, a factor analysis of the Mood Adjective Check List data, which was produced when it was administered under the "joy" condition, demonstrated that Nowlis' original factors were altered appreciably when the instrument was filled out i n an almost exclusively positive affective situation.

A

~ ' ~ E T H OFOR D

INVESTIGATING THE PHENOMENOLOGY DISCRETE EMOTION

OF A

The distinctiveness of the approach of this study can perhaps best be captured by setting it in the context of recent methods employed in the empirical investigation of emotion. Recent empirical investigations of affects fall into two general areas, ( a ) investigations of the basic dimensions of emotion and ( b ) investigations into the differentiation of the discrete or primary emotions. These can be called the dimensional approach and the discrete emotions approach (Izard, 1972). The dimensional approach concerns the basic dimensions of the emotion process and not the phenomenological distinctions between discrete emotions, such as anger, fear, or joy. This approach can be traced back to Wundt's (1897, pp. 83-85) tridimensional theory of feeling in which pleasantness/ unpleasantness, tension/relaxation, and excicement/quiescence were distinguished. Several researchers have investigated these dimensions of emotion as they have emerged from factor analyses of affective words (Nowlis, 1965, 1970; Block, 1957; Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbawn, 1957). For example, Nowlis T h e writer wishes to express appreciation to Bruce M. Bloxom, Vanderbilt University. and Richard L. Gorsuch, Institute of Behavioral Research, Texas Christian University, for invaluable statistical consultation; to Richard L. Blanroo, Carroll E. Izard, and William E. Kotsch, of Vanderbilt University for very helpful suggesuons reg3rding the manuscript; and to The Research Council of Vanderbilt Univels~ryfor a grant that made this project

g:i, "kir lor reprints should be addressed to the author at The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 37240.

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C . M. MEADOWS

has found four basic dimensions of emotion in his factor analyses of the Mood Adjective Check List: pleasantness/unpleasantness, activation/deactivation, positive and negative social orientation, and control (of emotional expression)/ lack of control. Other researchers have analyzed the basic dimensions of emotion as identified in facial expression (Ekman & Friesen, 1971; Izard, 1971). The discrete emotions approach seeks to identify and distinguish various discrete or primary emotions. In the tradition of McDougall's instinct theory of emotion Plutchik ( 1962) delineates eight primary emotions, each of which is the expression of a basic adaptive biological process. Tornkins ( 1962-63) identifies eight primary affects which are distinguished from drives and are considered to be the basic motivating forces of personality. Izard (1971) has developed a differential emotion theory which distinguishes nine discrete or primary human emotions, supported by a mass of empirical data. A study by Izard and Bartlett (1972) combines these two approaches by testing the correlations between measures of each of the primary emotions and the basic dimensions of the emotion process. Their results indicate the degree to which each of the basic dimensions of emotion (such as pleasantness, activity, or tension) is represented in a specific primary emotion (such as joy, fear, or shame). In this way a cross-comparison of the primary emotions can be made. The present study has two foci. The first is distinctive in that it focuses on the phenomenology or the feeling world of the subject, characterizing a single primary emotion, joy. Most, if not all, other empirical studies of the primary emotions have focused on the distinctions between various primary emotions. This investigation, in contrast, focuses on the phenomenology of one discrete emotion. It is a study of the various aspects of the phenomenology common to all joy experiences and of the phenomenological categories by which various subtypes of joy can be distinguished from each other. The second focus is on joy studied from the standpoint of basic dimensions which cut across the discrete emotions. The relationships between the phenomenological dimensions of joy, such as joyous perception of beauty, awareness of time, and self-potency, and the basic dimensions of the emotional process, such as activation, pleasantness, and positive or negative social orientation, are investigated. But it is not here assumed that the phenomenon of emotion can be reduced to the basic dimensions that cut across the discrete primary emotions. Rather, it is assumed that each discrete primary emotion has its own distinctive phenomenology which can be related to the basic dimensions that underlie all emotion processes. Various phenomenological analyses of particular emotions or affective states have been developed, but there are few empirical investigations of the phenomenology of specific emotions. In the philosophical tradition we have

PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY

41

phenomenologies of anxiety ( Kierkegaard, 1957 ) , manic euphoria (Binswanger, 1960), hope (Mwcel, 1951, 1967), fulfillment experiences (Strasser, 1951), and love (Sadler, 1969). In the psychological tradition one finds the phenomenologies of love ( F r o m , 1956), hope (Pruyser, 1963), and shame (Lynd, 1958). None of these analyses, however, employ empirical methods of investigation. Among empirical studies of the phenomenology of various affective states, Wessman and Ricks (1966) delineated character rypes of individuals who differed on the dimensions of mood variability and average level of elation or depression. Their study is phenomenological at the point of differentiating the feeling content distinctive to the rypes of elation and depression experienced by each of the character types described. Hypnosis has been used as a method for investigating the phenomenology of various emotions (Bull,1951). Izard ( 1972) has investigated anxiety and depression which are considered to be complex emotions made up of combinations of various primary emotions. It is clear, however, that there are few empirical investigations of the phenomenology of particular emotions.

AREAS OF INVESTIGATION Three areas are explored in this study: ( 1 ) the phenomenological dimensions of joy, ( 2 ) the relation becween the phenomenology of joy and the basic dimensions of emotion, and ( 3 ) the alteration of the Mood Adjective Check List factors under a condition of joy. In earlier research (Meadows, 1968) the writer developed a theory of joy which was used to develop a set of empirical scales. The present study first explores whether the phenomenological dimensions of joy, as hypothesized by the theoretical formulations, are confirmed by a factor analysis of data from ~ content the set of empirically derived scales, referred to as the Joy S ~ a l e . The of these phenomenological dimensions is clarified by exploring the relationships berween the subscales of the Joy Scale and another affective measure, the Mood Adjective Check List. In the second area of investigation the relation between the core phenomenology of joy and the basic dimensions of the emotion process is explored. This relation is clarified by the correlations between a core phenomenological scale, the Central Joy Scale, and the basic dimensions of the emotion process as they are .measured by the Mood Adjective Check List. The third area of investigation explores the influence which administration of the checklist under excl~sivelypositive affective instructions exerts on the original factors emerging from administration of the instrument in more diverse affective situations. A factor analysis was performed on che checklist data which were obtained under the joy instruction, i.e., when the instrument was 'A copy of the Joy S a l e (Meadows, 19740) may be obtained by writing the researcher.

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C. M. MEADOWS

filled out only as it pertained to the joy experience described by Ss. These factors were compared with the original checklist factors, which emerged from more diverse positive and negative affective situations. PROCEDURE Ss were 333 students ( 168 females, 165 males) from Vanderbilt University and Peabody and Belmont colleges. Each S was asked to describe in writing one particular joy experience on a Joy Description Form.! Then, each S filled out the Mood Adjective Check List (Nowlis, 1965; Tornkins & Izard, 1965, p. 356) and the Joy Scale in that order, with instructions to fill out these forms only as they were descriptive of the joy experience described on the Joy Description Form and not of joy generally. The checklist was used because it has been administered and its reliability tested under conditions in which both positive and negative affects were instigated, while the Joy Scale focuses only on positive affective responses. The checklist, then, provides the measure of a wider affective matrix to which the Joy Scale data can be related. The Joy Scale is a 61-item scale developed by the researcher to measure various phenomenological dimensions of joy. Each item, with the exception of several test items, consists of a statement describing how it feels to be joyous. Ss respond to each item on a six-place response scale, from 0 to 5, in terms of the degree to which a given item is descriptive of the experience described on the Joy Description Form, ranging from "not at all" to "very highly." The scoring yields 15 subscale measures as listed in Table 1. A given item is scored on only one subscale. The test is also keyed to produce a separate Central Joy scale score. The items were constructed from two sources. One of these sources is the Joy Typology (Meadows, 1968) developed for the purpose of distinguishing different types of joy. The Joy Typology consists of descriptive, experiential categories for differentiating the three structural dimensions of joy experiences. The three dimensions of the Joy Typology are: ( I ) Activeness vs Passiveness, (11) Individuation vs Affiliation, and (111) Excitement vs Serenity. Each dimension of the typology consists of two categories which are experientially opposite from each other. Every experience of joy is considered to be either individuated or affiliative, excited or serene, and active or passive. The phenomenological dimensions of joy common to all experiences of joy provide the second source of items for the scale. These dimensions were deT h e instructions were: "Please describe a arricular experience or moment of joy that has occurred to you. Describe as fully as porJiEle the feelingr you hnd at $he time. It appears to be easier for many people to describe the factual details of the situation and the setting in which joy occurred but more difficult to describe the inner, subjective fecl~ngsof the joyful experience. Please attempt to answer as fully as possible the question: 'How did it feel to be joyous?' Write as fully as possible and use the back of the sheet if needed."

PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY

43

rived from the phenomenology of joy developed earlier (Meadows, 1968). These phenomenological dimensions were hypothesized as: vitality, power, positive self-feelings, positive world, perception of beauty, insight, productive effects, ecstasy, and awareness of time. The following procedures were used to explore the three areas of investigation mentioned earlier: (1) T o ascertain whether the hypothesized categories of the typology and the phenomenological dimensions were confirmed, a factor analysis was performed on data from the Joy Scale. The correlations among the 61 items were subjected to a principal-axis factor analysis. Scales were formed from the items showing the highest loadings on the various factors. According to the criterion of acceptance used, an item must have a loading of .35 or more on the factor concerned and exhibit a loading of at least .20 greater than the next highest loading on another factor in order to be included in a scale. Product-moment correlations were obtained between the Joy Scale and the checklist scale scores. The Mood Adjective Check List was scored in accord with the scales from the short form of the test (Nowlis, 1965). These correlations are used to clarify the meaning of the joy subscales and provide the joy scales with roors in a more diverse affective matrix. ( 2 ) To determine which dimensions of the emotion process are particularly dominant in the affect of joy, a Central Joy scale was developed and productmoment correlations were obtained between the Central Joy scale and the Dimensions of Emotion on the Mood Adjective Check List. The Central Joy scale has 20 items which scored consistently high in our sample of Ss and which were correlated significantly with the total scale score. Central Joy scale items are marked 5 in Table 1 below.5 The items selected had a mean of 3.25 or above and exhibited a partial correlation with the total scale score, excluding the item itself, at a level of confidence of .005 or better. The checklist Dimensions of Emotion are: Activation, Deactivation, Pleasantness, Unpleasantness, Positive Social Orientation, Negative Social Orientation, and Lack of Control. It was hypothesized that the Central Joy Scale would be correlated at the highest levels with Pleasantness, Positive Social Orientation, and Activarion. ( 3 ) For the purpose of determining how the administration of the checklist under an almost exclusively positive affective condition would alter the original constitution of the checklist factors, a principal-axis factor analysis was performed on the checklist data obtained under the "joy condition." The factors T h e remaining Central Joy scale items are: 1. I felt expansive. 18. I felt that for the moment I could want nothing more from life. 28. It felt good to be alive. 33. I was aware mostly of how I felt inside. 43. I felt like a lot happened in a short time. 61. I felt -vigorous and alive within.

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emerging from the joy condition were then compared with the factors originally extracted by Nowlis from a number of diverse affective situations.

RESULTS Sixteen factors resulted from the factor analysis of the Joy Scale data. The Guttman criterion was used to determine the number of factors to be extracted (Guttman, 1954). Two factors were dropped from consideration because neither contained a sufficient number of items which met the criteria for acceptance. An Activeness scale was added. No Activeness factor emerged, but a scale was formed of items which had high negative loadings on the Passiveness factor. The 15 factors are summarized below. The factor pattern matrix, which resulted from a promax rotation of the axes, provides the loadings displayed in Table 1. This table lists the 45 items from the original scale which met the criteria for acceptance. If an item failed to meet the criteria for acceptance, stated above, and yet is included for purposes of future research, it is marked by an asterisk. The alpha coefficient of internal consistency is indicated for each factor-scale. The factors are as follows: ( 1) The Affiliation factor contains items which describe a joy shared between the S and others important to the S. ( 2 ) Individuation describes the sense of being a distinct, separate self with its felt boundaries clearly distinguishing it from its world. ( 3 ) Excitement describes excited joy which is characterized by feeling of "bursting with excitement," a sense of abundant energy, and a tendency to express this excitement by running, leaping, shouting, etc. ( 4 ) The Serenity factor gives expression to the feeling of being relaxed, content, and peaceful and the sense that time is moving slowly and serenely. ( 5 ) The Passiveness factor describes the feeling that the person has been passive in the events that have led up to the arousal of joy or that he feels receptive in the joy experience itself. ( 6 ) The Activeness scale describes the feeling that the person has been active in the events that have led up to the arousal of joy or that he feels active in the joy experience itself. ( 7 ) The Perception of Beauty factor focuses on alertness to one's world, sharpness and acuity of perception, and sensitivity to the richness and vividness of celebrative colors, sounds, odors, and spatial immensity during the experience of joy. (8) Self-potency contains items describing the person's experience of himself as the center of inner power and as worthwhile and confident. ( 9 ) The Positive Wovld factor expresses feelings that the world is perceived to be friendly and that life has been good to the subject in the moment of joy. ( 10) The Time: immediacy factor describes joyful imrnerison in the immediacy of the present moment and a sense of languishing in the completeness of the moment. (11) Time: Brevity describes the sense that a short time appeared to have elapsed when S looked back to the experience of joy. ( 1 2 ) Time: Rapid Flow refers to the sense that time was moving rapidly in the experience of joy. (13) Productwe Effects contains an insight dimension describing the ability to see things in a new

PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY

FACI'OR LOADINGS

TABLE 1 FOR JOY SCALE ITEMS ARRANGEDBY FACTORS Item No. and Content

Factor Loading

Affiliation (a = .87) 15. It was great to experience this high moment with someone who meant .7 1 something to me.§ 1.00 41. It was a joy shared becwecn us. 1.OO 56. The joy arose out of what we shared together. Individuation (a = ,701 .40 23. This was my joy and I wcnted to enjoy it alone. .17 46. It felt great to experience my joy as a separate individual.. .46 59. It was as if there was no one else in the world but me. Excitement (a = .67) .59 3. I was keyed up and excited. .70 19. I felt playful, like skipping, gamboling, joking, teasing. .85 32. I felt like shouting or leaping for joy.§ Serenity (a = .68) .23 7. I felt relaxed and serene. 22. During the experience I felt that time was moving slowly and serenely.. .15 .37 36. I felt peaceful and content.§ Passiveness (a = .48) 20. This moment seemed to happen to me apart from anything I did to bring it about. .70 .5 1 51. This moment came on me unexpectedly. Activeness (a = .62 ) 12. Secretly I knew that this high moment was the culmination of my efforts.. -.54t 39. I was happy that I had had a share in bringing about this moment of fulfillment. -.47t Perception of Beauty (a = .77) .GO 4. The way I saw the world was actually sharper than usual. .81 8. Colors appeared brighter and richer. .64 16. I had a sense of the world's immensiry and beauty.$ .7 5 26. Iwas aware of pleasant odors around me. 31. The world seemed to have a certain depth and richness when I looked .63 at it.§ .72 40. I was very alert to all that was around me. 49. 1 was aware of the beauty and richness of sounds around me. .83 Self-potency (a = .77) .64 9. I felt great about myself.$ 30. I felt that I was worchwhi!e, valuable.$ .70 .81 34. 1 felt a sense of inner power. 58. I felt as if there was a rolid center within me furnishing a sense of .67 power beyond what I usually feel. .77 60. I felt supremely confident.$ (Continued on next page) 'Item fails to meet criteria for acceptance but is included for research purposes. §Item included in Central Joy scale. tItem exhibits negative loading o n Passiveness scale.

C. M. MEADOWS TABLE 1 (Cont'd) FAC~ORLOADINGSFOR JOY SCALE ITEMSARRANGED BY FACTORS Item No, and Content

Factor Loading

Positive World ( a = .G9)

5. I felt that the world and other people were friendly toward me.§ 38. I felt that life was extremely worthwhile.$ 53. I was grateful for what life offered me.§ Time: Immediacy ( a = .40) 13. During the experience I seemed to be completely immersed in the present moment.§ 25. I just wanted to languish or bathe in the completeness of this moment.§ Time: Breviry ( a = .54) 29. When I look back to the experience, it seemed as i f a short time had elapsed. 47. When I looked back to the experience, it seemed as if quite a long time had elapsed. Rapid Time ( a = .63) 6. During the experience I felt that time was moving rapidly. 22. During the experience I felt that time was moving slowly and serenely. Productive Effects ( a = .72) 17. I saw things in a new way, in a way I'd never quite seen them before. 21. I think the experience led to a new productivity in later venrures.. 45. For some time after the experience I felt that I was able to perform smoothly and efficiently and to make decisions with facility.. 48. I seemed to be able to "see through," comprehend things in a deeper way.

.49 .7 1

.73 .GO .64

.7 7 -.GI

.77 -.57

.G2 .25 .28 .4 1

Ecstasy ( a = .5 1) 11. I felt like I was floating.§ 27. 1 felt like I was in another world.* Test Items ( a = 3 1 ) 2. I felt sad and wistful. 44. I was somewhat angry over it all. .44 *Item fails to meet criteria for acceptance but is included for research purposes. §Item included in Central Joy scale. tItem exhibits negative loading on Passiveness scale.

way and a "productive effects" dimension describing an enhancement in smooth and productive functioning. ( 14) The Ecstasy factor describes S's loss of some contact with his immediate perceptual field, the feeling of being in another world. (15) Test Items include anger and sadness items designed to test alertness and concentration in the test-taking situation. The phenomenological analysis of joy, expressed both in the categories derived from the Joy Typology and in the various phenomenological dimensions of joy, was essentially confirmed by the factor analysis of the Joy Scale data. A

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PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY

high degree of congruence was achieved in most instances between the hypothesized factors and those resulting from the factor analysis. In several cases two of the hypothesized factors combined into single factors but without significantly altering the content of the original factors. Perception of Beauty and Positive World remained intact. The original Vitality, Power, and Positive Self-feeling factors combined into a single Self-potency factor. The Productive Effects and Insight factors combined into a single Productive Effects factor. Several hypothesized factors split into more factors than were predicted. Three factors emerged that related to S s awareness of time: Time: Immediacy, Time: Brevity, and Time: Rapid Flow. Instead of the single predicted Ecstasy factor, an Ecstasy and a Transcendence factor emerged from these items. The poorer of these two factors, Transcendence, is not reported. Five of the six factors derived from the Joy Typology emerged in the factor analysis: Passiveness, Individuation, Affiliation, Excitement, and Serenity. Eight factors describing the phenomenological dimensions of joy, in contrast to the factors derived from the Joy Typology, emerged in the analysis: Perception of Beauty, Self-potency, Positive World, Time: Immediacy, Time: Brevity, Rapid Time, Productive Effects, and Ecstasy. The correlations between scores on the joy scales and the Mood Adjective Check List are reported in Table 2. TABLE 2 PRODUCT-MOMENT

CORRELATIONSBETWEEN SCALE SCORES:

JOYSCALEAND MOOD A D J E ~ CHECK E LIST

Subscales o f Joy Scale

A

B

Scales of Mood Adjective Check List* C D E F G H I

J

K

16 11 -08 -03 38 -10 07 -13 -03 Affiliation -25 02 10 02 03 12 -01 -08 -02 29 02 -11 -03 Individuation 11 21 08 -21 50 37 26 -18 -21 -09 24 Exci cement 10 21 00 -08 -29 -27 01 22 Serenity -13 -29 -15 01 -11 13 26 23 21 10 06 - 0 5 Activeness 04 22 08 -02 - 0 5 -17 -12 -07 -10 4 4 03 -00 -01 Passiveness 04 09 24 -01 18 -05 -07 -14 Perception 03 -15 02 24 27 20 11 08 -03 11 -16 05 Self-potency 13 14 11 14 31 00 -11 33 -15 -04 4 5 Positive World -22 - 0 6 Brief Time 08 -04 -03 13 07 05 -05 03 -13 08 03 31 10 -16 -16 - 0 2 -16 25 19 06 Rapid Time 23 -03 01 01 -02 11 -06 07 00 Immediacy 01 -01 04 -09 15 06 -07 4 5 Ecstasy 01 12 09 18 17 -09 05 Productive Effects 02 03 04 02 06 20 -07 09 -10 15 -03 24 -18 -04 -07 15 09 08 06 -03 -03 Test Items 06 * A = Aggression, B = Anxiery, C = Surgency, D = Elation, E = Concentration. F = Fatigue, G = Social Affection, H = Sadness, I = Skepticism, J = Egotism, K = Vigor.

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TABLE 3 PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELAT~ONS BETWEEIN CENTRAL JOY OF EMOTION SCOREAND DIMENSIONS Activation .25 Positive Social Orientation Deactivation .02 Negative Social Orientation Pleasantness .27 Lack of Control

.43 .02 .OO

In the second area of the present investigation, the Pearsonian correlations between the Central Joy score and the Dimensions of Emotion were obtained as a means of exploring which dimensions of the emotion process are particularly dominant in the affect of joy. These product-moment correlations are exhibited in Table 3. The highest correlations appear between the Central Joy score and Positive Social Orientation, Pleasantness, and Activation, while negligible correlations appear with Lack of Control, Deactivation, Unpleasantness, and Negative Social Orientation. It was expected in the third area of investigation that a factor analysis of the checklist data, when administered under the joy condition, would yield factors which differed from Nowlis' original factors. Four of Nowlis' original factors remained the same: Concentration, Aggression, Egotism, and Vigor. In several instances, two of his factors combined into a single factor under the joy condition: Surgency-Social Affection, Skepticism-Anxiety, and Fatigue-Sadness. Two new factors arose out of the original Elation factor. They were the Joy (cheerful, pleased, overjoyed, excited) and Ecstasy (ecstatic, elated) factors.

DISCUSSION The categories of the Joy Typology and the phenomenological dimensions of joy were essentially confirmed by the factor analysis of the Joy Scale data. The resulting factors are listed above and their congruence with the hypothesized factors noted. Here the content of the joy scales is clarified by reference to the correlations with the Mood Adjective Check List scales. Table 2 displays the product-moment correlations between the two measures. Some of the more cogent relationships will be discussed briefly. The relevance of the correlations for the interpretation of selected scales derived from the Joy Typology will be mentioned first. Affiliation (Joy Scale) is most highly correlated with the Social Affection (checklist) scale and is negatively correlated with the Aggression scale. This correlation with the Social Affection scale confirms the social dimension of joy reflected in the numerous instances of joy involving meaningful interpersonal, love, and sexual relationships in our sample. The centeredness of the self in Individuation and its overagainstness with objects is expressed by the correlation of Individuation with Aggression. That excited joy is characterized by activation, vitality, and an overflow of energy is expressed by the high correlations of Excitement with Vigor and Surgency and its negative correlation with Fatigue. The negative correla-

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49

tions between Serenity and Egotism and Vigor scales demonstrates that serenity is a relaxed state in which the ego's centeredness is not in central focus. The correlations with the Mood Adjective Check List also clarify the content of the joy scales describing the phenomenological dimensions of joy. Selfpotency is characterized by a sense of vitality and potency, which is confirmed by its correlations with Vigor, Egotism, and Surgency and its negative correlation with Sadness. The focus of the Positive World scale is outward toward the perceived friendliness and worthwhileness of the world which is confirmed by its positive relation with the Social Affection and Elation scales and its negative relation with Aggression. The fact that a person's sense of time is accelerated in excited joy is confirmed by the positive relation between Rapid Time and Surgency, Vigor, and Anxiety. The Ecstasy scale describes a high intensity dimension of joy as indicated by the correlations with Vigor and Surgency. The fact chat the ecstasy experiences in this sample were not classical ecstasies, in which complete withdrawal from the immediate perceptual field occurs, is shown by correlations with the Perception and Positive World scales. The second area of investigation brings together the dimensional and discrete emotions approaches to the snidy of emotion. The purpose was to explore which dimensions of the emotion process are particularly dominant in the affect of joy. Joy, as represented by the Central Joy score, ranked highest on Positive Social Orientation, next highest on Pleasantness and Activation, and exhibited negligible correlations with Deactivation, Unpleasantness, Negative Social Orientation, and Lack of Control (measured by the Anxiety scale). This concurs with the results obtained by Izard ( 1972, Chap. 6), where joy ranked highest among all emotions on Pleasantness, Activity, Extraversion, and Self-assurance. Joy also ranked high on Impulsiveness, low on Tension and Control, and middle range on Deliberateness. Thus, joy is an "impulse emotion" as Magda Arnold (1960) called it, experienced as highly pleasurable, involving high activation and inclining the person toward affiliative social relationships. The self is experienced as the center of power and vitality. Joy does not involve a high degree of tension nor of control or deliberateness. Thus the ranking of vaiious discrete emotions on the dimensions of the emotion process can provide a basis for cross-comparison between these emotions and can inform the analysis of the S's world as it is formed in a particular affective state. The Mood Adjective Check List was administered by Nowlis in a number of diverse affective situations, measuring both positive and negative emotions. In the present study the instriunent was administered under an almost exclusively positive affective condition. It was of interest to ascertain whether the factors of the checklist were influenced when it was administered under the "joy" condition. Factors arising out of a factor analysis of the joy data were

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compared with Nowlis' original factors. Concentration, Egotism, Aggression, and Vigor remained the same, Surgency-Social Affection, Skepticism-Anxiety, and Fatigue-Sadness combined into single factors, while Elation split into two separate Ecstasy and Joy factors. Less differentiation occurred in two factors which are more or less opposite to joy, Skepticism-Anxiety and Fatigue-Sadness, while less differentiation also occurred in one factor which exhibits high correlarions with joy, Surgency-Social Affecrion. Greater differenriation occurred in relation to the two new positive affective scales which emerged under the joy condition: Joy and Ecstasy. Thus the checklist factors were significantly influenced when the test was administered under an almost exclusively positive affective condition. The Joy Scale can be employed as a research instrument in a number of ways. In administering the Joy Scale to populations differing from each other on parameters of age, sex, ethnic and cultural characteristics, it may well be discovered that there are significant differences in the phenomenologies of joy, dominant within these populations. It would be expected, for instance, that the patterns of joy experienced in Mexican, Japanese, and American cultures would differ in significant ways. It would also be expected that different phenomenological types of joy would be present in religious joy, sexual joy, joy over triumph and other varying life situations. It may well be that individuals with differing personality types will be inclined to experience distinctive types of joy, as seems to be indicated by the research of Wessman and Ricks ( 1966). The same method used here in investigating the phenomenology of joy can be employed to advantage in researching the phenomenology of other emotions. A content analysis of descriptions of subjects' experiences of primary affects such as anger or fear or more complex affective states such as guilt, love, or hope would furnish categories for the development of scales measuring the phenomenology of each of these affective states.

CONCLUSIONS The phenomenology of a single affect, or discrete emotion, was investigated. The study has two distinctive features. The first is that the phenomenology, the subjective experience of emotion, is the object of investigation. The second is that this study focuses on the phenomenology of a particular discrete emotion, joy, as well as on its phenomenological sub-types, and is not confined to the cross-comparison of various primary emotions. Ss themselves provide descriptions of specific experiences of joy. These experiences are then rated by Ss on items of the Joy Scale which are designed to provide a comprehensive description of the phenomenological dimensions of joy. A factor analysis, then, clusters similar items in ways that account for the amount of variance on the basis of Ss' own rating of their experiences. The attempt is to be as inductive as possible in the development of the phenomenology

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51

of a discrete emotion but without disregarding the role of theory in the formation of hypotheses regarding the phenomenological dimensions of the given discrete emotion being investigated. This method, or variations of it, appears to provide rich possibilities for the study of the phenomenology of various human emotions. The Joy Scale was developed from a Joy Typology and from categories describing various phenomenological dimensions of joy. The Joy Typology consists of three pairs of experientially opposite categories for distinguishing different types of joy: ( I ) Activeness vs Passiveness, (11) Individuation vs Affiliation, and (111) Excitement vs Serenity. Five of the six factors derived from the Joy Typology emerged in the factor analysis: Passiveness, Individuation, Affiliation, Excitement, and Serenity. N o separate Activeness factor emerged. But Activeness items exhibited high negative loadings on the Passiveness factor, and an Activeness scale was devolped from these items. Thus for research purposes there is a subscale representing each of the categories of the Joy Typology. Eight factors describing the phenomenological dimensions of joy, in contrast to che factors derived from the Joy Typology, emerged in the analysis: Perception of Beauty, Self-potency, Positive World, Time: Immediacy, Time: Brevicy, Rapid Time, Productive Effects, and Ecstasy. It can be concluded that the phenomenological analysis of joy, expressed in both sets of categories derived from the Joy Typology and from the various phenomenological dimensions of joy, was essentially confirmed by the factor analysis of [he Joy Scale data. A high degree of congruence was achieved in most instances between the hypothesized factors and those resulting- from the factor analysis. The second area of this study explored the relation between the dimensional approach and the discrete emotions approach in the study of joy. Correlations were obtained between the Central Joy score, comprised of items which expressed the core phenomenological dimensions of joy, and the Dimensions of Emotion as a means of exploring which dimensions of the emotion process are particularly dominant in the affecc of joy. Joy ranked highest on Positive Social Orientation, next highest on Pleasantness and Activation, and exhibited negligible correlations with Deactivation, Unpleasantness, Negative Social Orientation, and Lack of Control. Thus, joy inclines the person toward affiliacive social relacionships, is highly pleasurable, and involves high activation. The self is experienced as the center of power and vitality. Joy does not involve a high degree of tension nor of control or deliberateness. The Mood Adjective Check List was administered by Nowlis in a number of diverse affective situations in which the test measured both positive and negative emotions. In the present study chis checklist was administered in an almost exclusively positive affective situation. It was anticipated that there would be some alteration of Nowlis' original factors when a factor analysis was performed on data from the checklist, administered under the condition of joy. As antici-

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pated, some of t h e original factors remained the same, others combined into single factors, while t w o new Ecstasy and Joy factors emerged. T h u s t h e checklist factors w e r e significantly influenced when t h e test was administered under a n almost exclusively positive affective condition. REFERENCES ARNOLD,M. Emotion and personality. New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1960. BINSWANGER,L. Melancholic rrnd Manie: Pbanomenologische S t d i e n . Pfullingen: Gunther Neske, 1960. BLOCK,J. Studies in the phenomenology of emotions. journal o f Abnormal and Sociul Psychology, 1957, 54, 358-363. BULL,N. The aairude theory of emotion. Nervous and Mental Disease Monographs, 1951, No. 81. DUPFY,,~ E. .An explanation of "emotional" phenomena without the use of the concept ernot~on." Jousnal of Genetic Psychology, 1941, 25, 283-293. EKMAN, P., & FRIESEN,W. V. Constants across c u h r e in the face and emotion. Journal of Pes~onalityand Social Psychology, 1971, 17, 124-129. EKMAN, P., FRIESEN,W. V., & TOMKINS,S. S. Facial affect scoring technique: a first validity study. Serniotica, 197 1, 1, 37-53. FROMM,E. The art of loving. New York: Harper & Row, 1956. G ~ A NL. , Some necessary conditions for common factor analysis. Psychometrika, 1954, 19, 149-161. IZARD,C. E. The face o f emotion. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971. IZARD,C. E. Patterns o f emotion. New York: Academic Press, 1972. KIERKEGAARD, S. T h e concept of dread. Princeton, N. J . : Princeton Univer. Press, 1957. LINDSLEY,D. B. Emotion. In S. S. Stevens (Ed.), Handbook o f experimental psychology. New York: Wiley, 1951. Pp. 473-516. LYND, H . M . On shame and the search for identity. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958. MARCEL,G. Homo viator. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1951. MARCEL,G. Desire and hope. In N. Lawrence & D. O'Connor (Eds.), Readings in existential phenomenology. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prencice-Hall, 1967. Pp. 277-285. MEADOWS,C. M. Joy in psychological and theological perspective: a constructive approach. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1968. NOWLIS,V. Research with the Mood Adjective Check List. In S. S. Tomkins & C. E. Izard (Eds.), Affect, cognition, and personality. New York: Springer, 1965. Pp. 352-389. NOWLIS,V. Mood: behavior and experience. In M. B. Arnold (Ed.), Feelings and emotions. New York: Academic Press, 1970. Pp. 261-277. NOWLIS, V., & GREEN. R. F. Factor analytic studies of mood. Technical Report, Office of Naval Research, Contract No. Nonr-668( 1 2 ) , 1964. OSGOOD,C. E., SUCI, G. J., & TANNENBAUM, P. H. The measurement of meaning. Urbana, Ill.: Univer. of Illinois Press, 1957. PLUTCHIK,R. The emotions. New York: Random House, 1962. PRUYSER,P. W. Phenomenology and dynamics of hoping. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1963, 3, 86-96. SADLW,W. A. Existence and love: a new approach in existential phenomenology. New York: Scribner's, 1969. SCHLOSBERG, H. Three dimensions of emotion. Psychological Review, 1954, 61, 81-88. STRASSER,S. DUJ Gemiit. Freiburg: Herder, 1951. TOMKINS,S. S. Affect, imagery, consciousness. 2 vols. New York: S ringer, 1962-63. TOMKINS,S. S., & IZARD,C. E. (Eds.) Affect, cognition, and personalty. New York: Springer, 1965. WESSMAN,A. E., & RICKS,D. F. Mood and personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966. WUNDT, W. Outlines o f psychology. New York: G . E. Stechert, 1897. Accepted April 15, 1975.

PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY

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C. M. MEADOWS

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the explicit request of Dr. C. M Meadows.

The phenomenology of joy an empirical investigation.

Psychological Reports, 1975, 37, 39-54. @ Psychological Reports 1975 THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF JOY, AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION'B~ CHRIS M. MEADOWS Vanderb...
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