Editing Joy (section)

== Affect Theory ==
Joy is one of the less-studied emotions in the wider field of affect theory. Theorist Susanna Paasonen discusses this in her work "Ambiguous Affect",<ref>{{cite book |last=Paasonen |first=Susanna |date=2023 |editor-last=Seigworth |editor-first=Gregory J. |title=Affect Theory Reader 2 |publisher=Duke University Press |pages=85–102 |chapter=Ambiguous Affect}}</ref> and presents the theory that excitement and joy are what shape a personality, building in past joys. She posits that joy and excitement build connections to things that grow into a larger web of interests, and studies this in relation to social media and how the fleeting and occasionally random nature of this excitement is difficult for companies to quantify in ways that are algorithmic, especially for social media.

 [[File:Sara Ahmed-IMG 6455.JPG|thumb|Sara Ahmed smiling]]
Another theorist that discusses joy is Sara Ahmed, a British Australian scholar who focus on affect theory, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and postcolonialism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bio |url=https://www.saranahmed.com/bio-cv/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Sara Ahmed |language=en-US}}</ref> In her article, "Happy Objects", she explores how objects can spark joy and happiness. Ahmed coined the term stickiness, stating emotions like happiness and joy being emotions that are doing.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Ahmed |first=Sara |title=Happy Objects |date=2010 |work=The Affect Theory Reader |pages=29–51 |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393047-001 |access-date=2025-03-28 |publisher=Duke University Press |doi=10.1215/9780822393047-001 |isbn=978-0-8223-4758-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Ahmed states, "Happiness thus puts us into intimate contact with things. We can be happily affected in the present of an encounter; you are affected positively by something, even if that something does not present itself as an object of consciousness."<ref name=":0" /> When a person sees something that brings them happiness no matter the situation, the person can't help but feel happy.