Mapping the Content Landscape of Self-transcendent Emotional Experiences with Thematic Analysis and Hierarchical Clustering

Self-transcendent emotions (STEs), including positive and threatening awe, compassion, admiration, elevation, gratitude, and love, expand one’s focus beyond the self and foster a sense of connection with something larger (e.g., people, nature, a higher power). Questions remain about the content structure that differentiates or unifies these emotions. We conducted four studies in Brazil, analyzing 1,683 narratives from the general population to clarify the nature and range of STEs in this underrepresented context. Study 1 developed and validated items measuring these emotions in Brazilian Portuguese, particularly critical for awe, as it lacks a direct translation. In Study 2, a bottom-up, qualitative template analysis from participants’ narratives yielded an initial coding template with 24 themes. Study 3 refined this template through qualitative coding, producing a final set of 34 unique themes. The theme of ‘connection with living forms’ emerged consistently across all STE narratives. Self-reported valence classifications indicated that several STEs’ experiences were ambivalent. In Study 4, a thematic hierarchical analysis revealed a robust link between positive and threatening awe, suggesting that these two variants share thematic elements compared to other STEs. Our qualitative narrative approach highlights STE’s thematical diversity and ambivalent valence, indicating that STEs do not form a homogeneous emotion category. Instead, our findings suggest that STEs are loosely connected to emotional reactions that share transcendental properties and are linked to cultural and social identities, but are likely driven by distinct affective processes.