Lecture
LINE Mini-symposium on Happiness & Enthusiasm
- Date
- Tuesday 10 February 2026
- Time
- Location
- Agora
Wassenaarseweg 52
Leiden - Room
- 0A28
We invite you for the second Leiden Interdisciplinary Network for Emotion (LINE) mini-symposium which is taking place on Feb 10. The theme for this session is Happiness & Enthusiasm.
Esther Op de Beek (Faculty of Humanities) will speak about her research on happiness in modern literature. Rijn Vogelaar (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences) will present work from his PhD project on enthusiasm.
Esther op de Beek (Faculty of Humanities) - Happiness in modern literature
Ideas about happiness and well-being take shape in stories: narratives that circulate in society and the media as scripts for a successful or meaningful life; stories we tell others and ourselves; stories found in films, television series, and novels; stories that portray and evoke emotions. In this talk, I will address the question of what literary fiction, as a space for reflection, immersion and experimentation, sets against the current, pervasive self-help culture, or presents in dialogue with it. In doing so, I draw in part on insights from the work of Sara Ahmed (The Promise of Happiness, 2010), Vivasvan Soni (Mourning Happiness, 2010), and Laura Hyman (Happiness: Understandings, Narratives and Discourses, 2014).
Rijn Vogelaar (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences) - Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is a concept that has fascinated major thinkers throughout history, from Socrates to Immanuel Kant. Today, enthusiasm is also widely valued in everyday life, education, leadership, and politics. Yet it remains surprisingly underexplored as a distinct emotion in psychological science. It is often treated as a vague mix of joy, motivation, or excitement, leaving its structure, function, and social dynamics poorly understood. In this talk, I present the core findings of my dissertation, which examines enthusiasm from three complementary perspectives: its internal structure, its functional profile in comparison to related positive emotions, and its regulation by social norms across contexts and cultures.
Using prototype analyses, appraisal-based studies, and large-scale cross-cultural survey data, I show that enthusiasm is a distinct, high-energy emotion characterized by goal orientation, action readiness, and a strong interpersonal component. Unlike joy, which typically follows goal attainment, or hope, which arises under uncertainty, enthusiasm emerges when goals are seen as attainable. The findings further demonstrate that enthusiasm is not only an individual experience but also a socially embedded emotion, shaped by perceptions of appropriateness that vary across private, work, and public contexts.
The talk concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for contemporary emotion theory and for applied domains such as education, leadership and organizational life. A deeper understanding of the structure, function, and social regulation of enthusiasm, together with recognition of its benefits, can enable educators, leaders, and policymakers to apply enthusiasm in ways that promote authentic engagement, psychological health, and sustainable performance.