Navigating the field of positive emotions has become complicated as many
different taxonomies or conceptualizations of distinct positive emotions
have been suggested. In the current project we systematically reviewed the
theoretical and empirical literature on distinct positive emotions,
focusing on potential overlap among concepts and underlying dimensions.
Reviewing 1,462 journal articles published across the last two decades, we
identified 13,775 instances theorizing, mentioning or measuring positive
emotions and 170 different concepts employed. Narrowing down this list, 63
experts in emotion research rated the 48 most frequently investigated
concepts regarding their conceptual similarity. Based on these results we
suggest that there is evidence for at least 28 distinct positive emotions
concepts, that can be grouped into six different categories or families,
based on the two underlying dimensions of arousal and sociality.
