Despite the large body of empirical and theoretical work that has emerged from positive psychology in the recent decades, surprisingly little work has been done by this field on joy. As a result, the work that has been done on joy is disjointed, and frequently does not build on the previous literature; indeed, the various definitions of joy that psychologists use often conflict with one another. The present article, therefore, seeks to address this gap in the positive psychology literature and provide suggestions for future directions, by placing the existing psychological work on joy in dialogue with itself and also in dialogue with the work on joy done in other fields, including, theology and religious studies, philosophy, and literature. The first part of this paper provides a systematic review of the existing work on joy and aims to develop an overarching framework that can be used to operationalize and define joy. This paper will then provide some suggestions for future directions for psychological research into joy, and will close by suggesting reasons why joy is an important phenomenon toward which positive psychology should turn its focus.
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