The Periodic Table of Emotions

Mapping Human Feeling for Greater Emotional Literacy

“Language shapes reality. Expanding our emotional vocabulary is the first step toward more authentic connection, resilience, and growth.”

The Periodic Table of Emotions is InspireCorp’s innovative science-based taxonomy designed to expand the vocabulary and understanding of emotional literacy. Beginning as a comprehensive set of research-driven emotion categories, the table catalogs both universal and culturally variable emotions, recognizing over 74 distinct emotional states that shape lives, relationships, and decision-making.

Science-Based Structure & Development

Drawing on interdisciplinary research in psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and linguistics, the table organizes emotions according to:

1. Basic emotions linked to innate, cross-cultural psychological needs (such as fear, joy, sadness)
2. Compound emotions contextualized by beliefs, action tendencies, and cultural patterns (for example, shame, awe, nostalgia, schadenfreude)
3. Hierarchies and clusters reflecting how emotions arise, shift, and interact

The project integrates insights from sources such as Brené Brown’s “Atlas of the Heart,” Paul Ekman’s universal emotion families, and large-scale data from workshops and academic reviews. Emphasis is placed on the critical importance of naming and processing emotions for well-being, communication, and leadership.​

Practical Applications: Emotion Cards

To bring theory into practice, InspireCorp developed Emotion Cards in English and Arabic—a toolset for building emotional literacy in schools, therapy, and community settings. Each card features:

1. A specific emotion, its definition, typical triggers, and related action tendencies
2. Guidance for constructive responses
3. The emotion category and/or color code matched to related emotions

Emotion Cards are used in classroom, clinical, and community contexts to help individuals recognize, name, and relate to their own and others’ emotional states. The cards support group dialogue and personal reflection: from navigating distressing emotions to learning to recognize and utilize helpful emotions.

Impact & Next Steps

The Periodic Table and Emotion Cards have been piloted in mental health programs for youth, educators, and families—showing measurable improvements in emotional vocabulary, empathy, and relational skills. InspireCorp won the AMEX Leadership Academy Award for its work on this project and will continue to expand this resource through an anthropological study of local Moroccan Darija expressions of emotions as well as the identification of emotion signs in Moroccan Sign Language.