Methods and systems are provided for emotional mapping, such as of online users, based at least in part on online activities of users. Techniques are provided in which information including a set of emotional states is generated or obtained, such as a hierarchical network of emotional states representing a spectrum of human emotions. Information regarding user online activities and content choices of a user is obtained. Based at least in part on this information, the user is classified into an emotional state of the set of emotional states, and advertisements or content may be targeted to the user accordingly.