Multi-step user authentication combines steps of authenticating both objective and subjective credentials. A user selects objective credentials, such as a password, and enters subjective credentials, such as a subjective description of the user's emotional response to a subjective challenge, such as a musical recording or image. The system identifies other content likely to elicit a similar emotional response from the same user. When the user later attempts to log onto a secured system, the user must enter the objective credentials and then describe the user's emotional response to a second subjective challenge that is likely to elicit an emotional response similar to that invoked by the first subjective challenge. If the user enters the correct objective credentials and describes an emotional response consistent with the first subjective description, then the user is given access to the secured system.