Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Social Psychology

Emotions and Moral Behavior

Emotions and Moral Behavior is a research topic within Social Psychology. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex interplay of moral emotions such as shame, guilt, pride, and envy, and their impact on behavior, social interactions, and mental health. It delves into topics like emotion regulation, appraisal theory, self-conscious emotions, social rank evaluation, depression, and empathy.

  • Shame
  • Guilt
  • Pride
  • Envy
  • Emotion Regulation
  • Appraisal Theory
  • Self-Conscious Emotions
  • Social Rank
  • Depression
  • Empathy
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
37% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Emotions and Moral Behavior

Which countries lead Emotions and Moral Behavior research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (636 and 212 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 636 works
  2. 2 China 212 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 193 works
  4. 4 Germany 184 works
  5. 5 Canada 112 works
  6. 6 India 86 works
  7. 7 Italy 85 works
  8. 8 Australia 79 works
  9. 9 Japan 71 works
  10. 10 Spain 64 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 37.0%China: 12.3%United Kingdom: 11.2%Germany: 10.7%6 others listed: 28.8%37%largest
United States636 · 37.0%China212 · 12.3%United Kingdom193 · 11.2%Germany184 · 10.7%6 others listed496 · 28.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Emotions and Moral Behavior research?

By volume in 2022-now, Sapienza University of Rome publishes the most Emotions and Moral Behavior research, followed by University of Toronto and University of Oxford.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 17 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 16 works
  3. 3 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 15 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 13 works
  5. 5 KU LeuvenBelgium 13 works
  6. 6 Cornell UniversityUnited States 10 works
  7. 7 University of BristolUnited Kingdom 10 works
  8. 8 University of ChicagoUnited States 10 works
  9. 9 University of GenevaSwitzerland 9 works
  10. 10 East China Normal UniversityChina 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Emotions and Moral Behavior?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Emotions and Moral Behavior include Richard M. Ryan, Albert Bandura and Dan J. Stein.

  1. 1 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  2. 2 Albert Bandura United States 370k citations
  3. 3 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  4. 4 Trevor William Robbins United Kingdom 199k citations
  5. 5 Roy Frederick Baumeister United States 183k citations
  6. 6 Chris Frith United Kingdom 175k citations
  7. 7 John T. Cacioppo United States 168k citations
  8. 8 Simon Baron‐Cohen United Kingdom 166k citations
  9. 9 Raymond J. Dolan United Kingdom 165k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Emotions and Moral Behavior?

The most cited paper in Emotions and Moral Behavior is "Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation" (Hazel Rose Markus, Shinobu Kitayama, 1991), with 21,129 citations. Next come "Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries" (14,493) and "Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being." (11,993).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation Hazel Rose Markus, Shinobu Kitayama · Psychological Review Apr 1991 21,129
2 Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries Shalom H. Schwartz · Advances in experimental social psychology Book chapter 1992 14,493
3 Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. James Jonathan Gross, Oliver P. John · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003 11,993
4 An argument for basic emotions Paul Ekman · Cognition & Emotion May 1992 9,629
5 The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review James Jonathan Gross · Review of General Psychology Sep 1998 9,381
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Emotions and Moral Behavior research done?

The largest centres of Emotions and Moral Behavior research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Toronto (Canada) and New York (United States).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 31 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 29 works
  3. 3 TorontoCanada 28 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 28 works
  5. 5 RomeItaly 28 works
  6. 6 MadridSpain 26 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 25 works
  8. 8 BerlinGermany 24 works
  9. 9 MontrealCanada 23 works
  10. 10 TokyoJapan 23 works
See Emotions and Moral Behavior on the map

Where is the best place to study Emotions and Moral Behavior?

Among universities, judged by research, Sapienza University of Rome, East China Normal University and University of Geneva score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 16.58%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →East China Normal Un…University of GenevaSapienza University …University of Toronto
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Sapienza University of RomeItaly 86.426.9%6.8×17 +323.9%
2East China Normal UniversityChina 68.031.9%9.3×10 +238.4%
3University of GenevaSwitzerland 62.429.7%10.9×10 -28.9%
4University of TorontoCanada 62.010.4%3.8×16 +32.1%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.16.2%5.1×15 +8.6%
6Hebrew University of JerusalemIsrael 51.915.0%7.9×9 +28.2%
7KU LeuvenBelgium 51.02.8%6.3×13 +100.9%
8Cornell UniversityUnited States 43.713.9%3.8×10 +24.1%
9Yale UniversityUnited States 42.418.8%3.7×9 +61.7%
10University of ChicagoUnited States 39.410.2%5.5×10 +24.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Emotions and Moral Behavior, country by country

Is Emotions and Moral Behavior research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Emotions and Moral Behavior.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Emotions and Moral Behavior as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0092% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Emotions and Moral Behavior0.0097% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Emotions and Moral Behavior over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Emotions and Moral Behavior10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Emotions and Moral Behavior. Posts are plain text and can be reported.