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A Prototype Analysis of Gratitude: Varieties of Gratitude Experiences
Abstract
The present research tested the hypothesis that concepts of gratitude are prototypically organized and explored whether lay concepts of gratitude are broader than researchers' concepts of gratitude. In five studies, evidence was found that concepts of gratitude are indeed prototypically organized. In Study 1, participants listed features of gratitude. In Study 2, participants reliably rated the centrality of these features. In Studies 3a and 3b, participants perceived that a hypothetical other was experiencing more gratitude when they read a narrative containing central as opposed to peripheral features. In Study 4, participants remembered more central than peripheral features in gratitude narratives. In Study 5a, participants generated more central than peripheral features when they wrote narratives about a gratitude incident, and in Studies 5a and 5b, participants generated both more specific and more generalized types of gratitude in similar narratives. Throughout, evidence showed that lay conceptions of gratitude are broader than current research definitions.
... As a result, people may experience distinct positive emotions depending on the perceived source of their good fortune, even in mundane experiences in daily life. For example, gratitude and indebtedness are prototypically felt when benefits are given by someone or something outside of oneself, whereas pride is common when good experiences come about through one's efforts, skills, and virtues (Campos et al., 2013;Emmons et al., 2019;Lambert et al., 2009;Tong & Jia, 2017;Tracy & Robins, 2007). In four studies of religiously diverse samples, we investigated how patterns of positive emotions might vary depending on the perceived source of one's good fortune and whether this variability can be explained by internal versus external attributions-specifically, attributions of positive experiences to God, karma, or human benefactors. ...
... Gratitude is prototypically defined as a response to a person who voluntarily gives a benefit, especially if that benefit comes at some cost to themselves and is given to intentionally increase the recipient's well-being (Emmons et al., 2019;Lambert et al., 2009;Tsang, 2006). Gratitude then often motivates reciprocal prosocial behavior toward the benefactor (and toward others) and can bind the receiver and benefactor in a mutually beneficial social relationship (Algoe, 2012;Gordon et al., 2012;Ma et al., 2017). ...
... For example, people can report feeling thankful for having a loving family, narrowly escaping an accident, or simply being alive. However, these feelings may be psychologically and conceptually distinct from feelings of gratitude directed toward an agent (Emmons et al., 2019;Lambert et al., 2009;Roberts, 2014;Rusk et al., 2016). ...
Good fortune can be attributed to many sources, including other people, personal efforts, and various theistic and nontheistic supernatural forces (e.g., God, karma). Four studies (total N = 4,579) of religiously diverse samples from the United States and the United Kingdom investigated the distinct emotional reactions to recalled positive experiences attributed to natural and supernatural benefactors. We found that the hallmarks of interpersonal gratitude (e.g., thankfulness, admiration, indebtedness) were reported when believers attributed their good fortune to a personal, benevolent God. However, a distinct emotional profile arose when participants attributed good fortune to the process of karmic payback, which was associated with relatively less gratitude but with higher scores for feelings of pride and deservingness. These results were partially explained by participants’ attributions of positive experiences to an external agent (e.g., God) versus a universal law or internal factors as in the case of karma. We conclude that diverse spiritual beliefs influence causal attributions for good fortune, which, in turn, predict distinct emotional responses.
... Russell argued that emotion concepts are scripts (i.e., cognitive representations) in which people categorize their emotional experiences in terms of features (e.g., behavioral responses, phenomenological experiences, etc.) with different degrees of typicality. Using this approach, researchers mapped the features of emotion concepts such as anger (Russell & Fehr, 1994), gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), love and commitment (Fehr, 1988), shame (Hurtado de Mendoza et al., 2010), and vengeance (Elshout et al., 2015). Based on the assumption stemming from a prototype perspective that there are no sharp boundaries separating members from nonmembers of a category (Russell, 1991b), we argue that the disgust concept has fuzzy boundaries. ...
... The German and Spanish speaking participants were recruited through the university's usual recruitment system, as well as using a snowball sampling method. We aimed for similar sample sizes as used in previous research based on prototype approaches, such as studies compiling features and determining centrality ratings of gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009) or vengeance (Elshout et al., 2015). ...
... Based on the assumption that the respective features of each of the concepts would vary in their representativeness, in a first step we addressed the prototype structure of each of the emotion concepts of disgust by analyzing the centrality vs. periphery of the features. We therefore used the standard procedure by Fehr (1988), as well as other prototype research (Elshout et al., 2015;Lambert et al., 2009). This procedure revealed that the features with ratings higher than 5.83, 4.88, 6.94, 5.97, and 5.68 were conceived of as central by Chinese, German, Palestinian, Spanish, and US participants respectively, and yielded 34, 34, 19, 31 and 32 features (see Table 2). ...
Past research has shown that disgust is a heterogeneous category and lacks unity in its defining features. In the two studies reported in this paper, we examined the internal structure of disgust in English, and its translation equivalents of asco in Spanish, Ekel in German, garaf in Arabic, and yanwu in Chinese. In Study 1, 517 participants listed the most accessible constitutive features (definition, elicitors, and physical responses) of the concept of disgust in their culture. In Study 2, 653 participants were asked to judge the extent to which each of the 63 features extracted from Study 1 was typical of the concept of disgust in their respective culture. Results revealed differences in content, as well as internal structures across the five cultural groups: the disgust concepts differed in the degree of typicality of their constitutive features, the relevance of single features, the extent to which they shared features and the structural properties of the features. Taken together, our results question the assumed conceptual equivalence of the disgust concept across five cultures and raise questions about the suitability of deploying direct translations of disgust terms in cross-cultural research.
... Accordingly, the border between categories is fuzzy (i.e., there are no sharp boundaries that separate members from non-members). Previous research on gratitude (Lambert, Graham & Fincham, 2009), grima (Schweiger Gallo, Fern andez-Dols, Gollwitzer & Keil, 2017, humiliation (Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2017), love (Fehr & Russell, 1991), modesty (Gregg, Hart, Sedikides & Kumashiro, 2008), sadness (Shirai & Nagamine, 2020), shame (Mendoza, Fernandez-Dols, Parrott & Carrera, 2010), vengeance (Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2015), and even the concept of emotion itself (Fehr & Russell, 1984) has shown that a prototype approach allows for identifying the features of emotion concepts (i.e., unique or shared attributes), and thus to delineate their internal structures. ...
... Based on Fehr's (1988) procedure, which has been proven effective for coding features of everyday emotion concepts (e.g., Lambert, Graham & Fincham, 2009;Mendoza, Fernandez-Dols, Parrott & Carrera, 2010;Schweiger Gallo, Fern andez-Dols, Gollwitzer & Keil, 2017), two independent coders with the same background in the language at hand performed a category analysis for each of the three questions: the definition, elicitors, and physical reactions of envy and its translation equivalents envidia and Neid. First, the participants' responses were organized into minimally inclusive linguistic units. ...
... In order to divide the features of the everyday concepts of envy into central and peripheral features, we used the standard procedure by Fehr (Fehr, 1988; see also other prototype research such as Elshout, Nelissen & van Beest, 2015Lambert, Graham &Fincham, 2009 andShirai &Nagamine, 2020). Using this procedure, we found that 26 features of the English envy received ratings higher than 6.25 and thus were considered central to envy (see Table 2). ...
Using a prototype approach to emotion concepts, we mapped the internal structure and content of the everyday concept of envy (as used in the United States) and its translation equivalents of envidia in Spanish and Neid in German. In Study 1 (total N = 415), the features of the concept of envy , e nvidia , and Neid were generated via an open‐ended questionnaire. In Study 2 (total N = 404), participants rated the degree of typicality of the constitutive features on a forced‐choice questionnaire. The prototype analysis of envy, supplemented with network analyses, revealed that the largest connected set of features of envy , envidia , and Neid shared a group of central features, including features related to success or to people with a better appearance. Still, envy , envidia , and Neid did differ with respect to their constituent peripheral features as well as the density of their networks, their structure, and the betweenness centrality of the nodes. These results suggest that a prototype approach combined with network analysis is a convenient approach for studying the internal structure of everyday emotion concepts and the degree of overlap with respect to the translation equivalents in different countries.
... In schools, psychologically informed practices such as counting blessings and gratitude journal writing are often used for these purposes (Froh & Bono, 2015;Froh et al., 2007Froh et al., , 2008Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006). However, the nature of gratitude and how it develops are understood differently across cultures (Carr, 2015a;Emmons & McCullough, 2004;Jackson, 2020;Lambert et al., 2009;Morgan et al., 2014). Most past research on gratitude has focused on 'Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies' . ...
... Often, gratitude has been conceptualised as a moral emotion (or 'emotional virtue') manifesting in (a) recognising and appreciating beneficent acts of others or (b) appreciating the positive in one's life in general (Emmons, 2004;Emmons & McCullough, 2003;McAleer, 2012;McCullough et al., 2001). The former (a) has been described as 'targeted' or 'personal' gratitude, as gratitude is targeted towards a benefactor with agency and intentionality (Lambert et al., 2009). According to McCullough et al. (2001), targeted gratitude has three functions. ...
... This view is more common among psychologists, given its association with other positive traits, such as positivity, optimism, joy, and happiness. This view is sometimes called 'generalised' or 'transpersonal' gratitude, as there is no direct benefactor (Lambert et al., 2009;McAleer, 2012). Some scholars argue that this view is too broad, better described as 'appreciation', since it fails to attend to the importance of reciprocal intentions and interpersonal relations characterising gratitude . ...
... Applying this approach to the study of moral traits in particular can (a) ensure that theoretical descriptions of moral traits remain in contact with how the terms are used by everyday people, (b) delineate the relative importance of moral subtraits to their broader traits (e.g., truthfulness and promise-keeping under honesty), and (c) provide an avenue to understand cross-cultural differences in lay conceptualizations of moral traits (see Wright et al., 2021, especially Chaps 2-3). Indeed, researchers have used this approach to explore lay conceptualizations of several morally relevant constructs (e.g., Gregg et al., 2008;Lambert et al., 2009;McGrath, Han, Brown and Meindl, 2022;Morgan et al., 2014;Santos & Michaels, 2020;Shi et al., 2021;Weidman et al., 2018;Westrate et al., 2019). Such work informs theorizing about the nature of moral psychological constructs. ...
... Such work informs theorizing about the nature of moral psychological constructs. For example, Lambert et al. (2009) used a prototype analysis of gratitude to argue that researcher emphases on narrow conceptions of gratitude (gratitude as a directed response to a specific interpersonal exchange) fail to capture people's experiences of gratitude, which are often generalized and nondirected. ...
... Sample Size Determination. To determine sample size, we examined previous prototype analyses of virtue-relevant constructs (Gregg et al., 2008;Kearns & Fincham, 2004;Lambert et al., 2009;Santos & Michaels, 2020;Shi et al., 2021;Weidman et al., 2018), aiming to exceed those studies in both participants and raw responses. Those studies averaged 141 participants to generate responses (high of 208), so we aimed for 250 to exceed the largest by 20%, oversampling to ensure 250 after exclusions. ...
Honesty is a near universally valued trait. However, the term honesty captures a litany of traits and behaviors, obscuring research on social perceptions and trait measurement of honesty and creating philosophical difficulties in accounting for what (if anything) unifies this diversity. We applied a prototype analysis approach to identify the most central elements of lay honesty conceptualizations, identifying elements that come to mind and are explicitly acknowledged as important to honesty. In five studies (N = 1,442), U.S. American participants generated 6,000+ free responses characterizing honesty and indicated which subtraits and behaviors best represent honesty. Truthfulness was most central to lay honesty conceptualizations across all studies and several centrality indices (frequency among responses and participants, agreement across participants, priority in lists, explicit ratings), though several other features were prominent. Findings illuminate social perceptions of honesty, critique popular measurement of trait honesty, and offer empirical foundations for philosophical analysis of honesty.
... Au-delà de ces deux dimensions de l'humanité, de récentes perspectives ainsi que les travaux relatifs à la définition du prototype d'une catégorie suggèrent d'examiner l'importance des attributs pour les individus (e.g. Kteily & Landry, 2022 ;Lambert et al., 2009). À notre connaissance, aucune étude n'a examiné si certaines caractéristiques étaient plus importantes que d'autres dans la définition de l'humain auprès de différents groupes sociaux. ...
... La centralité est également une des manières de mesurer le prototype d'une catégorie (e.g. Lambert et al., 2009). Bien que la conception de l'humanité puisse reposer sur des caractéristiques physiques (e.g. ...
... Au niveau méthodologique, les travaux relatifs au prototype (e.g. Carmona et al., 2022;Lambert et al., 2009) ...
[English] The question of “what constitutes a human being?” has been a topic of ongoing interest among authors. While various definitions of humanness have been proposed, relatively few studies have specifically examined lay conceptions of the human being. The majority of research in this area focused on humanness attributions, with numerous studies reporting greater humanness attributions to members of one's ingroup compared to members of outgroups. However, these findings were controversial and alternative interpretations were developed. Some researchers suggested that human being may be a prototype. Other highlighted variations in the centrality of
characteristics to the concept of humanness. Despite differences in lay conceptions of humanness, a universal understanding of the human being has been put forth. Furthermore, the majority of these studies was limited to cross-cultural variations, neglecting other social groups. In this thesis, we focus on gender groups (i.e. men and women). On one side, previous research evidenced a
more positive evaluation and a greater attribution of humanness to women, including from men. This preference for women was related to benevolent sexism, which values conformity to gender stereotypes. On the other side, men are considered more prototypical of inclusive categories, including "humanity". These elements raised two research questions: 1/ Does the conception of the human being differ between men and women? 2/ Does this conception rely on the characteristics of the ingroup or does one of the two gender identities dominate? To address these research questions, we also investigated the relationships between this conception and ingroup identification, sexism and adherence to egalitarian policies. The research program was structured around three empirical chapters. In the first chapter, a qualitative approach is used to investigate variations in the content of the representation of the human being between women and men among adults (studies 1-3), and among children and adolescents (study 2). In the second one, we examine whether feminine and masculine stereotypical characteristics are perceived as central in the definition of human being (studies 4, 5). In line with the literature on attributions of humanness, the perceptions of Human Uniqueness and Human Nature of these characteristics are also measured (studies 6, 7). In the third chapter we rely on the methodology of ingroup projection and we investigate whether individuals project typical characteristics of women and men onto the prototype of the human being (studies 8, 9). In the last study, we extend this investigation to a population of children and adolescents (study 10). This research program allows several results to be extracted. Firstly, while the content of the representation of the human being appears similar between women and men (studies 1-3), variations appear in terms of the centrality and uniqueness attributed to certain characteristics (studies 8, 9). Secondly, feminine stereotypical characteristics are widely perceived as more central in the definition of human being by both women and men (studies 3-5, 8) and is related to the degree of benevolent sexism among participants. This observation is also found in girls (but not in boys, study 10). Conversely, masculine characteristics are perceived as more specific to the human being by women and men (studies 6-7). All of these results are discussed in reference to the “women are wonderful” effect. The need for future research to distinguish a descriptive representation of human being and a normative representation (i.e. in terms of ideal human) is also discussed.
[French] La question « qu’est-ce qu’un être humain ? » a suscité l’intérêt de nombreux⋅se⋅s auteur⋅e⋅s depuis des siècles. Si de nombreuses définitions de l’être humain ont émergé, peu de recherches ont investigué les représentations profanes de l’être humain. En psychologie sociale, cette question a majoritairement été étudiée sous l’angle des attributions d’humanité à autrui. De nombreuses recherches ont notamment rapporté une plus grande attribution à son groupe d’appartenance comparativement à d’autres groupes sociaux. Récemment ces travaux ont été soumis à la critique et de nouvelles perspectives ont émergé. Parmi ces perspectives, certaines ont proposé de considérer l’humain comme un prototype et d’examiner si certaines caractéristiques pourraient être plus centrales que d’autres. Si quelques recherches mettent en évidence des variations dans la représentation de l’humain, ces différences ont été relativement minimisées au profit d’une représentation de l’humain plus universelle. De plus, la grande majorité de ces travaux s’est focalisée sur les variations interculturelles négligeant les autres groupes sociaux. Dans cette thèse, notre intérêt s’est porté plus spécifiquement sur les groupes de genre (i.e. femmes et hommes). Certaines études ont mis en évidence une évaluation plus positive ainsi qu’une plus grande attribution d’humanité à l’égard des femmes, y compris chez les hommes. Ce favoritisme envers les femmes est néanmoins relié à une forme de sexisme (i.e. sexisme bienveillant) qui valorise la conformité aux stéréotypes de genre. D’autres études ont rapporté que les hommes sont considérés comme plus prototypiques d’un ensemble de catégories inclusives, notamment « l’humanité ». Ces éléments théoriques nous ont amené à formuler deux questions de recherche : 1/ La représentation de l’humain diffère-t-elle entre les femmes et les hommes ? 2/ Cette représentation repose-t-elle sur les caractéristiques de l’endogroupe ou une des deux identités de genre domine-t-elle ? Nous avons également investigué les liens entre cette représentation et l’identification à l’endogroupe, le sexisme et l’adhésion à des politiques égalitaires. Le programme de recherche s’est articulé autour de trois chapitres empiriques. Le premier adopte une approche qualitative afin d’examiner les potentielles variations dans le contenu de la représentation de l’humain entre les femmes et les hommes chez les adultes (études 1-3) et chez les enfants et les adolescent⋅e⋅s (étude 2). Le deuxième examine dans quelle mesure les caractéristiques stéréotypées féminines et masculines sont perçues comme centrales dans la définition de l’humain (études 4, 5). Pour faire le lien avec les travaux sur les attributions d’humanité, les perceptions d’Unicité et de Nature humaine de ces caractéristiques sont également étudiées (études 6, 7). Enfin, le troisième chapitre s’appuie sur la méthodologie de la projection de l’endogroupe et examine dans quelle mesure les individus projettent les caractéristiques typiques des femmes et des hommes sur le prototype de l’humain. Enfin, une dernière étude appréhende ce même phénomène auprès d’une population d’enfants-adolescent⋅e⋅s.
Ce programme de recherche permet de dégager plusieurs résultats. Tout d’abord, si le contenu de la représentation de l’être humain s’avère relativement identique entre les femmes et les hommes (études 1-3), des variations apparaissent au niveau de la centralité et de l’unicité attribuées à certaines caractéristiques (études 8-9). Ensuite, les caractéristiques stéréotypées féminines sont largement perçues comme plus centrales dans la définition de l’humain par les femmes et par les hommes adultes (études 3-5, 8). Ce constat est également trouvé chez les filles, mais pas chez les garçons (étude 10). Cet effet est relié au degré de sexisme bienveillant des participant⋅e⋅s. À l’inverse, les caractéristiques masculines sont perçues comme plus spécifiques de l’être l’humain par les femmes et les hommes (études 6-7). L’ensemble de ces résultats est discuté en référence à l’effet « les femmes sont merveilleuses » (women-are-wonderful-effect). La pertinence de distinguer dans de futures recherches une représentation descriptive de l’humain et une représentation normative (i.e. en termes d’humain idéal) est également discutée.
... Positive experiences come in many forms and elicit a range of positive emotions (Weidman & Tracy, 2020), with the specific profile of positive emotions dependent upon perceptions of how and why the good experience occurred. When people view positive experiences as a gift from a benevolent benefactor, common emotional responses include thankfulness for the benefit received and gratitude and indebtedness towards the benefactor (Campos et al., 2013;Emmons et al., 2019;Lambert et al., 2009;Tong & Jia, 2017). Feelings of gratitude then motivate future prosocial behavior that can bind the receiver and benefactor into mutually-beneficial social relationships (Algoe, 2012;Gordon et al., 2012). ...
... 317). Lambert et al. (2009) refer to this type of gratitude as benefit triggered, and the degree of gratefulness often depends upon the beneficiary's perception of the intentions and benevolence of the benefactor, as well as the perceived value of the benefit (Emmons et al., 2019). Several empirical studies of recalled life events have found associations between patterns of attributions and distinct positive emotions, with gratitude consistently associated with the perception that another person caused a benefit to oneself (Campos et al., 2013;Tong, 2015;Tong & Jia, 2017;Yih et al., 2019). ...
... One possibility is that people feel a different profile of positive emotions when they do not perceive external agency, compared to when they attribute a good experience to a benevolent agent. Several prior theoretical and empirical studies have distinguished prototypical instances of interpersonal gratitude (to a specific benefactor, for the benefit), from feelings of gratefulness that a benefit exists (without attributions to a specific beneficent agent, Rusk et al., 2016), a feeling that has been variously discussed as generalized gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), transpersonal gratitude Steindl-Rast, 2004), cosmic gratitude (Roberts, 2014) and gratitude to intangible benefactors (Tsang et al., 2021). ...
... Through an experiencesampling methodology over a three-week period, Olson and colleagues [7] found that spiritual behaviors such as prayer and meditation were associated with increases in gratitude, thereby establishing a longitudinal trajectory. In a series of studies, Lambert and colleagues [14] also found a longitudinal relationship between prayer and gratitude. Specifically, participants who prayed to express gratitude reported high levels of gratitude. ...
... The average age of the mothers was 45 and the average age of the fathers was 47; average marital length was 20 years. The average age of the interviewed children was 16 years (range: [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Participants were from all eight socioreligious regions in the United States (i.e., Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Mountain West, New England, Northwest, Pacific, the South, and Southern Crossroads regions, see [47]). ...
... Based on participant reports, gratitude was directed to a family member or God and described for a particular benefit. The directional aspect established an interpersonal connection that set the context for benefit-triggered gratitude, whereas the functional domain encapsulated generalized as well as specific, relationship-focused gratitude [14]. Our findings inform the need to examine types of gratitude based on the type of relationship. ...
Gratitude has been extensively studied over the past two decades. Among several predic-tors, aspects of religiosity and spirituality have been consistent predictors of gratitude. To explore the religious motivations and processes that foster the practice of gratitude, we undertook a systematic thematic analysis using interview data from a national qualitative project of 198 highly religious families. Participants (n = 476) included mothers, fathers, and children from various socioeconomic backgrounds and from diverse religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds in the United States of America. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the participants' homes. Data for this study were analyzed using a team-based approach to qualitative analysis. The findings were organized thematically, including: (a) aspects of gratitude, (b) expressions of gratitude, and (c) the influence of gratitude. Two aspects of gratitude were identified: functional-what people were grateful for-and directional-to whom they were grateful. Expressions of gratitude involved participation in regular, gratitude-focused prayers and mutual day-today appreciation. The relational context and implications and context of gratitude in religious families were further examined and reported with sub-themes: (a) gratitude prompted positive re-evaluation of relationships and (b) gratitude reinforced religious faith. Implications, strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
... Gratitude, especially toward God, is one of the most frequent emotions that religious people report (Kaplan, 2012;Lambert et al., 2009). Most research on gratitude toward God has looked at correlations between individual differences in dispositional gratitude toward God and outcome measures such as well-being. ...
... Interpersonal gratitude toward other people is a common theme in gratitude research. In Lambert et al. (2009) prototype analysis of gratitude, several gratitude features listed by participants were related to interactions between people, such as "helping someone," "family," and "friends." Thus, interpersonal gratitude is a natural comparison to gratitude toward God. ...
... Gratitude and Maslow's needs. In addition to being grateful for more benefits, people might write about different types of benefits when asked to reflect on their gratitude to God. Lambert et al. (2009) conducted a prototype analysis for gratitude experiences generally, but the literature does not yet have a widely adopted organizational structure for gratitude benefits, more specifically. One useful way to classify benefits may be Maslow's (1943) needs (Nguyen & Gordon, 2022). ...
We test the effectiveness of 2 different written inductions of gratitude toward God and analyze the content and outcomes of these gratitude expressions. We recruited 1,170 predominantly Christian U.S. participants across 3 CloudResearch datasets. Participants were randomly assigned to write about gratitude to God or another benefactor, including people, parents, country, and unspecified benefactors, or to write about their daily activities. Study 2 further probed nuances related to control group instructions, and Study 3 examined outcome measures related to well-being and prosociality. The participants who wrote about gratitude toward God more frequently mentioned basic needs and self-transcendence and less frequently mentioned material items compared to other benefactors. They also showed high levels of expansive emotions and religious intentions. Our research provides methodological insights relevant to gratitude writing inductions and sheds light on the content and outcomes of gratitude toward God.
... By using such an approach, our findings are free from subjective thoughts from the researcher and thus might represent the ideas of lay people about hope more comprehensively. A prototype analysis is especially suitable for conceptualizing vague constructs such as emotion-related concepts, including greed, love, gratitude, and nostalgia (e.g., Elshout et al., 2015;Fehr, 1988;Fitness & Fletcher, 1993;Hepper et al., 2012;Lambert et al., 2009;Seuntjens et al., 2015). ...
... Particularly, when defining some emotion-related constructs such as greed, love, gratitude, and nostalgia, previous researchers have often successfully adopted a prototype analysis (e.g., Elshout, Nelissen, & Van Beest, 2015;Fehr, 1988;Fitness & Fletcher, 1993;Hepper, Ritchie, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2012;Lambert, Graham, & Fincham, 2009;Seuntjens et 30 al., 2015). In the present research, we follow this tradition and apply a prototype analysis to understand the concept of hope. ...
... Each level builds on the other but includes additional conditions and a greater degree of moral significance than the previous level. At the first and most basic level, generalized gratitude is the awareness and appreciation of goodness in one's life and the acknowledgement that such goodness originates at least partially from sources outside the self (Lambert et al., 2009;Lomas et al., 2014). Importantly, we argue that the perceived sources of goodness do not have to be moral agents and can include inanimate objects, nature, or good luck (McAleer, 2012) 2 . ...
... Examples of generalized gratitude include being grateful for good weather or for narrowly avoiding an automobile accident due to good luck. At the second level, targeted gratitude includes all the elements of generalized gratitude, but also requires the attribution of one's benefits to the benevolent, intentional actions of morally agentic benefactors (human beings, God, and perhaps some animals), as well as positive thoughts and emotions about one's benefactors (Lambert et al., 2009;Roberts, 2014). At the third level, actionable gratitude encompasses all the elements of generalized and targeted gratitude, as well as actions (or at least the desire to enact actions) that convey gratitude to one's benefactors; such actions include verbal expressions and non-verbal, behavioral expressions of gratitude, such as gifts and acts of service (Navarro & Tudge, 2020) 3 . ...
Positive psychology scholarship has been criticized for prioritizing individuals’ personal well-being over moral concerns. Therefore, using the example of gratitude, we offer a corrective to this imbalance by articulating a moral vision for the psychology of gratitude. Specifically, we propose the contextualist morality model of gratitude to integrate philosophical, conceptual, and empirical insights on the interface of morality and gratitude. Within this model, we offer a contextualist view by situating gratitude within a constellation of other related virtues. We explicate the moral bases, moral sensitivity, and moral functions of gratitude. First, we identify three moral virtues that facilitate the development of gratitude—humility, empathy, and altruism. Second, we address how moral concerns shape people’s experience of gratitude and their judgments of the appropriateness of gratitude. That is, the extent to which people feel grateful to others and believe it is appropriate to be grateful is informed by moral concerns, such as perceptions of the benefactor’s morality.
Third, we articulate the moral consequences of experiencing and expressing gratitude. Building on McCullough et al.’s (2001) moral affect theory, which posits that gratitude is a moral barometer, motivator, and reinforcer, we propose that gratitude also functions as a moral cultivator of other prosocial virtues (e.g., forgiveness), a moral regulator (restraining immoral and uncivil behaviors), and a moral blessing (conferring goodness via a sense of mattering on gratitude recipients). We conclude with suggestions for future research and practice based on the contextualist morality model.
... Since we consider concepts as mental tools which enable us to communicate about and get grip on reality, we should also investigate whether or not 'dyadic' gratitude is a useful concept. The analysis above indicates that this concept captures a set of 22 Some authors use the terms targeted gratitude for the triadic concept (see McAleer. 2012;Jackson 2016;Rush 2020) and generalized (Lambert et al. 2009) or non-directed (Lacewing 2016) gratitude for the dyadic concept. These terms reflect the idea that the main difference between both types of gratitude lies in their directedness or scope. ...
... In recent years, some advances have been made with regard to the conceptualization of gratitude, but debates regarding the benefactor condition have only intensified(Gulliford and Morgan 2021, p. 210). 2 For this reason, triadic gratitude has also been labeled 'directed' and 'targeted' gratitude (McAleer 2012; Rush 2020), whereas dyadic gratitude has also been termed 'non-directed' and 'generalized' gratitude(Lacewing 2016;Lambert et al. 2009). Besides, various other labels are being used to distinguish these concepts -a consensus regarding the use of standard terms has yet to be reached.Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
In this paper we defend the idea that dyadic gratitude — i.e. gratitude in absence of a benefactor — is a coherent concept. Some authors claim that ‘gratitude’ is by definition a triadic concept involving a beneficiary who is grateful for a benefit to a benefactor. These authors state that people who use the term gratitude in absence of a benefactor do so inappropriately, e.g. by using it as an interchangeable term for ‘appreciation’ or ‘being glad’. We believe that the conceptual analyses which underlie such statements are too strongly focused on language and pay insufficient attention to the lived experience of gratitude. Thus, we have conducted a phenomenological analysis of several experiences in which people report feeling gratitude in absence of a benefactor. Informed by our phenomenological findings, we argue that dyadic gratitude is a coherent concept that shares certain core experiential elements with triadic gratitude. Gratitude is an appreciative response that construes its object as a gratuitous good and as a (metaphorical) gift; it is characterised by a receptive-appreciative attitude, an awareness that we are in some sense dependent on something other than ourselves, and a motivational impetus to promote, celebrate and/or radiate goodness. Finally, we argue that dyadic gratitude is a useful concept because it enables us to think and communicate effectively about a set of experiences. Moreover, it is also a scientifically and philosophically relevant concept, since it seems to be associated with various positive psychosocial effects and might even be developed as a virtuous disposition.
... It has been argued that such a classical approach fails to adequately capture people's experiences and conceptions of emotions and other blended states (see Russell, 1991, for a review). Evidence has shown that a prototype approach better resembles the way people represent subjective constructs such as emotion (Fehr & Russell, 1984;Shaver et al., 1987), love (see Fehr, 2006, for a review), anger (Russell & Fehr, 1994), forgiveness (Kearns & Fincham, 2004), gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), modesty (Gregg et al., 2008), disillusionment (Maher et al., 2020), prayer (Lambert et al., 2011), and saudade -while there is no direct translation for this Portuguese expression, it closely resembles a melancholic longing or yearning (Neto & Mullet, 2014). Consistent with prototype theory, these studies have shown that people organise these concepts around central and peripheral features and that these are processed differently. ...
... Some consider gratitude as a unitary concept, while others disagree in that respect (Diessner & Lewis, 2007;McCullough et al., 2002;Watkins et al., 2003). Moreover, there is a conceptual distinction between gratitude and appreciation and there is a polyphony about whether gratitude "must" include a distinct benefactor (Adler & Fagley, 2005;Lambert et al., 2009;Steindl-Rast, 2004). At the trait level, gratitude is known as a grateful disposition (Emmons & McCullough, 2004), referring to "a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people's benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes one has and to respond with grateful feelings" (McCullough et al., 2002, p. 112). ...
Gratitude is a psychological notion that has been associated with numerous beneficial outcomes for individuals and communities. The Short Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (S-GRAT), one of the most widely used measure to detect trait gratitude, comprises three subscales that assess lack of a sense of deprivation, appreciation for simple pleasures, and appreciation of others. The present study tested the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the S-GRAT scale. Using a sample of 681 adults from the general population and a smaller separate sample of fifty individuals we found that the scale demonstrated good internal consistency and high test-retest reliability. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the original three-dimensional scale structure. Convergent and discriminant validity tests found S-GRAT-Gr total score was significantly correlated with Agreeableness, Intellect, Extraversion, Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness. S-GRAT-Gr also had positive correlations with the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), the Subjective Happiness Scale and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. S-GRAT-Gr score was found to have a unique impact on Life Satisfaction and Happiness beyond the basic taxonomies of personality and also beyond the GQ-6. Results indicate that the Greek version of the Revised Short Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test (S-GRAT-Gr) is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing dispositional gratitude in the Greek context.
... Gratitude disposition has been associated with various well-being indicators [46] and numerous studies have used gratitude interventions to attempt to enhance individual well-being. Gratitude is typically defined as the emotional response that arises when one recognizes and values a benefit that is attributed to external enablers, often the actions of other people, or as a broader sense of appreciation for the positive things in life [47][48][49]. Gratitude interventions typically involve simple activities such as writing personal letters of appreciation, e.g., [4], or keeping a journal of experiences that evoked gratitude, e.g., [50]. ...
Background
Mounting evidence suggests that the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions is influenced by a variety of factors, including cultural context. Identifying intervention targets that can effectively contribute to improving individual well-being under these boundary conditions is a crucial step when developing viable interventions. To this end, we examined how gratitude disposition, self-esteem, and optimism relate to the subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) of Japanese individuals.
Methods
Multivariate regression analysis was employed to quantify the unique relationships between the three potential intervention targets and both SWB and PWB, while accounting for the influence of other variables. Participants (N = 71) also engaged in a 4-week experience sampling study to explore how gratitude, self-esteem and optimism shape the link between momentary affective states in everyday life and evaluations of day satisfaction.
Results
Multivariate regression analysis revealed that self-esteem was predominantly more strongly associated with SWB compared to gratitude disposition, whereas gratitude disposition was more strongly associated with the PWB dimensions, particularly personal growth, positive relations with others and purpose in life. Experience sampling data indicated that while both gratitude disposition and self-esteem moderated the association between momentary positive affect and day satisfaction evaluations, they did so in opposite ways; greater gratitude disposition strengthened the association, while greater self-esteem weakened it.
Conclusions
Overall, the current results suggest that while gratitude, self-esteem, and optimism influence individual well-being as a whole, they likely play distinct roles in facilitating SWB and PWB in the studied cohort.
... Gratitude, originating from the Latin word gratia, signifies grace within the psychological literature (Emmons and McCullough, 2004). It has been conceptualized in various ways, such as a moral virtue, an emotional response to the kindness of others, a personality trait (Emmons et al., 2003), a broad life orientation (Wood et al., 2010), and an emotion referred to as generalized gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009). Although this study has not found direct evidence of gratitude influencing patriotism, related research still demonstrates a connection between the two. ...
Introduction
Patriotism, a positive emotional attachment to one’s country, has been associated with prosocial behavior, social responsibility, and gratitude. It plays a crucial role in promoting social harmony and national development. However, the factors influencing patriotism and their mechanisms remain unclear. This research consists of two studies exploring the internal mechanisms that connect gratitude and patriotism.
Methods
Study 1 conducted a cross-sectional analysis among 3,826 college students to investigate the influence of gratitude on patriotism, emphasizing the mediating role of general life satisfaction and the moderating impact of socioeconomic status. This approach aimed to elucidate the complex relationships between these variables within college students. Study 2 adopted a longitudinal approach, surveying 905 college students across three-time points. This study was designed to explore the temporal mediation of general life satisfaction in the gratitude-patriotism relationship, offering insights into the evolution of these constructs over time. The sequential surveys aimed to capture the dynamic nature of gratitude’s impact on patriotism, considering the continuous interplay with general life satisfaction among college students.
Results
Study 1 reveals a noteworthy finding: Gratitude enables the direct prediction of patriotism, while additionally, general life satisfaction plays a role between them. Furthermore, the predictive effect of gratitude on patriotism is strengthened among individuals with higher levels of socioeconomic status. However, there is no significant moderating effect between general life satisfaction and patriotism by socioeconomic status. Study 2 demonstrates that general life satisfaction plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between gratitude and patriotism, over a period of three times. However, the moderating influence of socioeconomic status was not substantiated in the longitudinal mediation model.
Conclusion
These two studies shed light on the complex relationship between gratitude and patriotism. They emphasize the significance of gratitude, general life satisfaction, and socioeconomic status in shaping patriotism, offering potential avenues for understanding the internal mechanisms that influence patriotism.
... (Lin) Participants' understanding of gratitude was broadened as a result of psychoeducation and the exercises in the MGG. Their multifaceted understanding of gratitude is consistent with the extant literature (e.g., Lambert et al., 2009). As such, our following analyses were guided by their conceptualizations of gratitude. ...
Although scholarship on the clinical applications of gratitude to psychotherapy is growing, research on gratitude psychotherapeutic group interventions that specifically address Chinese culture is limited. To promote well-being and optimal functioning among people of Chinese cultural backgrounds, this study describes the Mandarin gratitude group (MGG), a culturally adapted psychotherapeutic model designed to foster gratitude among people from Chinese culture. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, the authors examined 11 Mandarin speakers’ perspectives on gratitude and their experience of participating in the MGG at a U.S. Midwestern university. Eight themes emerged: (a) evolved understanding of gratitude, (b) centrality of family, (c) high context communication styles, (d) perceived barriers to verbalizing gratitude toward others, (e) corrective experiences in most grateful moments, (f) experiencing gratitude as behavioral contagion, (g) experiencing holistic growth, and (h) cultural adaptations of gratitude psychotherapeutic interventions. The authors conceived the core phenomenon of participants’ experience of gratitude as navigating a dialectical interplay between Chinese cultural norms and MGG norms. Based on the findings, the authors offer recommendations for counselors to provide culturally sensitive treatment and prevention programs for Chinese cultural communities.
... Kemampuan pengelolaan emosi positif ditandai dengan adanya rasa memaafkan, rasa syukur, optimisme, harapan dan kebermaknaan hidup (Seligman, 2002). Pentingnya pengembangan rasa syukur pada remaja telah diungkapkan melalui berbagai temuan yang mengemukakan bahwa rasa syukur pada remaja mampu berdampak pada timbulnya perilaku yang positif seperti kepuasan hidup, perilaku menolong, kesejahteraan psikologis dan perilaku prososial (Froh et al., 2008;Lambert et al., 2009). Sejalan dengan itu, pengembangan rasa syukur juga berorientasi pada pencapaian kebahagian diri (Froh et al., 2009). ...
This research is predicated on the significance of gratitude as a positive emotion that adolescents need to cultivate in order to build resilience and readiness to face challenges. The objective of this study is to explore the potential of group exercise techniques in fostering gratitude among adolescents. Adolescents are expected to exhibit various positive traits, such as competitiveness, intelligence, self-regulation, self-disclosure, and a heightened sense of gratitude. The data analysis in this study employed the Miles and Huberman model, which consists of three stages: 1) reduction, 2) presentation, and 3) verification. The findings suggest that gratitude is a crucial characteristic in adolescents, and group exercise techniques can potentially enhance this trait. By nurturing gratitude in adolescents, they can achieve psychological well-being and mitigate negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and sadness
... Third, and finally, anticipated affective or emotional experiences may stimulate people to approach or avoid negative news items. For example, anticipated feelings of gratitude for one's own situation (Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2020;Lambert et al., 2009) may be positively associated with decisions to engage with negative news, whereas anticipated feelings of distress (Hoffner et al., 2009;Zillmann, 2000) may be negatively associated with decisions to engage with negative news. The potential relationship between the This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
People were confronted with a barrage of negative news during the COVID-19 crisis. This study investigated how anticipated psychological impact predicted decisions to read personalized and factual COVID-19 news. First, participants chose, based on headlines, whether they wanted to read news articles (or not). Then, all headlines were rated on a set of motivational dimensions. In order to test confirmatory hypotheses, the data were divided into an exploration (n = 398) and validation data set (n = 399). Using multilevel modeling, we found robust support for four preregistered hypotheses: Choice for negative COVID-19 news was positively predicted by (a) personal versus factual news; (b) the anticipated amount of knowledge acquisition; (c) the anticipated relevance to one’s own personal situation; and (d) participant’s sense of moral duty. Moreover, exploratory findings suggested a positive relationship between headline choice and anticipated compassion, a negative relationship with anticipated inappropriateness and gratitude, and a quadratic relationship with anticipated strength of feelings. These results support the idea that negative content offers informational value, both in terms of understanding negative events and in terms of preparing for these events. Furthermore, engagement with negative content can be motivated by moral values.
... The essential social and moral issue related to greed is that one person's greed-driven actions are likely to impose costs on others, explaining why greed is considered destructive in almost all societies. Gratitude, on the other hand, leads an individual to become other-focused and hence recognize, appreciate, and savor the things they themselves have (Lambert, Graham, and Fincham 2009;McCullough, Emmons, and Tsang 2002). Feeling grateful should make people perceive that their lives are filled with the goodwill and positive deeds of others and, in turn, demotivate them to strive for things they do not have (Polak and McCullough 2006). ...
... Prototype analyses have been frequently applied to conceptualize and better understand emotion-related constructs such as gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), nostalgia (Hepper et al., 2012) and hope (Luo et al., 2022). It has also been applied to motivational constructs such as greed (Seuntjens et al., 2015), and relational constructs such as love (Fitness and Fletcher, 1993), commitment (Fehr, 1988) and relationship quality (Hassebrauck, 1997). ...
Purpose
Understanding consumer brand relationships from the perspective of the consumer has been a research topic for years. Despite this, there are still various ways in which the construct is interpreted. This paper aims to identify the most typical interpretation of brand relationships by consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
A four-study prototype analysis was conducted, in which a bottom-up approach was applied to identify lay people’s conceptualization of consumer brand relationships.
Findings
The prototype analysis generates a comprehensive list of features of consumer brand relationships that provide a nuanced understanding of the concept. The most typical characteristics of a brand relationship according to consumers are quality, bond, value and joy. Comparing this relationship prototype with existing literature shows that there may be a gap between theory and practice regarding the concept of brand relationship.
Originality/value
The prototypical conceptualization of brand relationships shows which aspects play a role in consumers' most common interpretation of the construct. This provides an opportunity to assess the validity of existing conceptualizations of brand relationships. Knowing which aspects are most relevant for consumers’ brand relationships allows brands to make adjustments as needed and improve at establishing and maintaining relationships with consumers.
... Gratitude is one of the most important emotions in human experience [33]. Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation for benefits received [189] or benefit triggered (grateful to), or a generalized gratitude for gifts or blessings in life (grateful for) [190] Gratitude research is relatively new (starting with Emmons and McCollough in 2003 [191]). However, there is a growing body of rigorous, controlled research on the science of gratitude, not only with regard to overall well-being and resilience but also learning (for a review see [188]). ...
This paper proposes a new perspective on implementing neuroeducation in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues of faculty and students, creating a mental health crisis that impairs learning. It is important to get our students back in “the zone”, both cognitively and emotionally, by creating an ideal learning environment for capturing our students and keeping them—the Synergy Zone. Research that examines the classroom environment often focuses on the foreground—instructors’ organizational and instructional aspects and content. However, the emotional climate of the classroom affects student well-being. This emotional climate would ideally exhibit the brain states of engagement, attention, connection, and enjoyment by addressing the mind, brain, and heart. This ideal learning environment would be achieved by combining proposed practices derived from three areas of research: flow theory, brain synchronization, and positive emotion with heart engagement. Each of these enhances the desired brain states in a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I call this the Synergy Zone. A limitation of this proposed model is that implementation of some aspects may be challenging, and professional development resources might be needed. This essay presenting this perspective provides the relevant scientific research and the educational implications of implementation.
... Gratitude is defined as an emotional state which one experiences (beneficiary) after perceived benefits received by another individual (benefactor) (Emmons & McCullough, 2004). It can also be experienced as a general, broader appreciation or thankfulness for meaningful aspects of individuals' life, such as one's family or good health (Lambert, Graham & Fincham, 2009). The emotion gratitude can be conceptualised on both state and trait level. ...
... Emmons and Mc-Cullogh (2003) defined gratitude as "the willingness to recognize the unearned increments of value in one's experience". Although research into the psychology of gratitude is still, in many ways, in its' infancy (Peter and Seligman, 2004), "gratitude has been conceptualized as a moral virtue, an attitude, an emotion, a habit, a personality trait, and a coping response" (Lambert et al., 2009) in positive psychology. There is a substantial number of empirical evidence available to highlight the beneficial effects of gratitude. ...
The incredible significance of gratitude (shukr) that Islam advocates and the one that positive psychology showcases are very similar in nature. This paper is a representation of an endeavor of intensely studying this topic both from the perspective of Islam and Positive Psychology, analyzing the conceptualization of gratitude that both sides espouse and establishing a link between the two. Content and textual analysis methods were used to scrutinize the data related to the study. The literature from the Holy Quran and Sunnah (Prophet's practices) suggests that gratitude can be a source of abundance, well-being, and life satisfaction. Positive psychology endorses gratitude as a source that can guide people towards meaning and a higher level of self-esteem and happiness. This analysis can potentially serve as a tool to examine the level of contentment, better interpersonal relationships, well-being, and overall happiness both at individual and collective levels.
... Gratitude is typically framed as a positive emotion, one associated with pleasantness and happiness (Jans-Beken et al., 2019;Lambert et al., 2009;Tong, 2015;. In terms of the level of activation or arousal associated with gratitude (cf. ...
Many people who see themselves as having a relationship with God think of this bond in terms of love and safety. Yet some might also see this relationship in energetic terms: as exciting, lively, passionate, or fun. An online survey asked 871 U.S. adults who believed in God to reflect on a recent positive life event. Three measures assessed relational energy or excitement: a slider item, a Likert item, and a set of eight adjectives. Regressions consistently showed that even when controlling for perceived love and safety in the relationship, this energy/excitement dimension predicted more gratitude to God, more divine attributions and gift appraisals for the event, feeling more loved by God, and greater desires to pass on kindness to others. The predictive role of energy/excitement was not reducible to religiousness, God belief, state or trait gratitude, trait gratitude to God, feeling energized, subjective vitality, or social desirability.
... The feeling of gratitude is defined as a coping response and a moral virtue falling under the "Exchange" category of the seven cooperative foundations [2]. The seven moral values include kinship, mutualism, exchange, hawk, dove, division, and possession. ...
Gratitude is an essential element of human cooperation and morality. Massive amounts of research have been conducted over the past several decades, and research that focus on gratitude has arisen in recent years. However, academia lacks integration of research. This review will intergrade the information and research results from different papers to provide a coherent approach and understanding of gratitude. The purpose of this review is to analyze and expound on different theories of gratitude, the factors that influence gratitude, and their impact on people’s lives. With the approach of literature reviewing, this paper discusses the origin and definition of morality as the thankful expressions from beneficiaries to benefactors. This paper lists three theories to explain gratitude: morality-as-Cooperation, moral Sentiments, and cognitive emotion theory of gratitude. The level of altruistic intention, specificity of helping behavior, and the level of appreciation of gratitude are the main factors affecting gratitude, which affects people’s life satisfaction and happiness.
... Instead, using a bottom-up methodological approach, a prototype analysis provides a scientific approach for understanding multi-faceted concepts that are difficult to define in simple dictionary terms (Morgan et al., 2014). Prototype analyses play an important role in psychological research as it provides greater concept clarity, for example, concerning disillusionment (Maher et al., 2020), gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), nostalgia (Hepper et al., 2012), and virtue (Gulliford et al., 2020). Hence, a prototype analysis of heroes is not only able to overcome the issues prevalent in top-down approaches, but such analysis is also able to encompass the breadth of conceptions of heroes. ...
Building on earlier research that examined the characteristics people associate with heroes, our research examined similarities and differences of the hero stereotype across cultures. Specifically, in Study 1 (N = 209) and Study 2 (N = 298), we investigated lay perceptions of heroes among participants from a collectivistic culture. In Study 3 (N = 586), we examined whether group membership could be determined by participants' centrality ratings of the combined set of hero features. In Study 4 (N = 197), we tested whether the hero features that distinguish American and Chinese participants, when used to describe a target person, influence the impression that the target person is a hero. In Study 5 (N = 158) and Study 6 (N = 591), we investigated cultural differences in perceptions of different types of heroes (e.g., social, martial, civil) and the influence of individualism and collectivism on the perception of those heroes.
... Gratitude refers to the pleasant feeling that individuals may experience for a person from whom they have been benefited (Lambert et al., 2009). To feel gratitude, it is important to recognize the benefits received (Graham & Weiner, 1986). ...
The COVID-19 outbreak has affected mental health worldwide, and especially among university students, who stopped attending lessons and had a long break from their social life. The present chapter presents the findings of a study aiming to investigate the relationship between distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and well-being dimensions (gratitude, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress) in this population. The sample consisted of 79 Greek university students, all emerging adults aged between 18 and 29 years. Participants completed self-report questionnaires including the satisfaction they experienced regarding distance learning, DASS-21, SHS, SWLS, GQ-6, and mDES. Overall, results showed that Greek university students experienced moderate levels of life satisfaction and positive affect and high levels of subjective happiness and gratitude, moderate stress levels, low anxiety and depression symptoms, and moderate negative affect levels. An important finding of the study is that there is an interaction between satisfaction with distance learning and all well-being indices, except subjective happiness. The findings provide suggestions for further research and applications in the field of education and counseling in emerging adulthood.KeywordsCOVID-19Distance learningGratitudeWell-beingEmerging adults
... Combined with the location of this prompt at the end of a long survey, this suggests that the breadth of children's kindness schema repertoires may have been underrepresented in this study. Future research examining prototypicality should employ a more inclusive open-ended stem early-on in the survey and should use the full set of prototype analysis methods (e.g., centrality ratings, recognition tasks; Gulliford et al., 2021;Lambert et al., 2009). ...
Kindness is key to flourishing school communities. A social-cognitive approach to virtue emphasizes the importance of having an elaborate set of accessible mental representations (i.e., schemas) for expressing kindness. We employed a multi-informant, mixed method, longitudinal design across 6 months that focused on 4th and 5th graders’ (N = 320) kindness schemas using the open-ended question, ‘What are some ways you can show kindness to others?’ Results indicated that children’s schemas entailed wide-ranging content, expressing virtues of generosity, compassion, inclusion, civility, and harm avoidance. The breadth of children’s schema repertoires was positively associated with peer (but not teacher) ratings of their kindness, and virtues that attend to others’ vulnerability (compassion, inclusion) were the most indicative of children’s kindness from peers’ perspectives. Further, the breadth of kindness repertoires was associated with aspects of classroom ecology (e.g., peer acceptance), suggesting that positive classroom relationships may serve as sites for the cultivation of kindness schemas.
... During the focus group, the participants clearly stated that they feel gratitude towards podcasts, when they say, "I'm going to contribute because I want to thank the person who produced the podcast". This corroborates what McCullough et al., (2002) found, that the relationship with the supportive audience is related to a feeling of gratitude that derives from a perceived benefit (Lambert et al., 2009;McAdams and Bauer, 2004). ...
... Recently, business scholars have made calls to increase our understanding of gratitude in consumer behavior (Lee et al., 2022). Gratitude scholars distinguish between the emotion of feeling grateful to a person and feeling grateful for things in general, for the good things in life (Lambert et al., 2009). For this investigation, we would focus on feelings grateful for the good things in life, which might include the purchase of experiences and material objects. ...
In four studies, we tested the influence of type of purchase on autonomy support and the relationships between autonomy support, gratitude, and ease of justification. In each of the three studies, participants were randomly assigned to either the experiential purchase condition or the material purchase condition. In our fourth and last study, participants were assigned to an either autonomy supportive purchase condition or ordinary purchase condition. Results from study 1 showed a positive direct influence of experiential purchases on autonomy support and a direct and indirect significant relationship with gratitude. Results from study 2 with a sample of older consumers showed a positive influence of experiential purchases on autonomy support and a direct and indirect positive relationship with gratitude. In study 3, consumers who brought to mind an expensive experiential purchase reported higher autonomy support than participants who brought to mind an expensive material purchase and this experimental effect had an indirect positive relationship with gratitude and ease of justification. Last, consumers who brought to mind a purchase that truly reflected who they were reported higher levels of autonomy support than consumers who reported an ordinary purchase and this elicited autonomy had a positive relationship with gratitude. The implications of the results were discussed.
... Compassionate behaviors included a mean-composite score of each partner's forgiveness and gratitude, where higher scores indicated higher levels of compassionate behavior. Six items came from the Marital Forgiveness Scale and three came from the Gratitude Scale (Fincham et al., 2006;Lambert et al., 2009). Sample items included, "I soon forgive my partner, " and "When my partner does something nice for me I acknowledge it." ...
Introduction
Compassion may be a particularly important component of a sexual relationship as it facilitates needed self-awareness, understanding, and connection to frame deeply intimate expressions of sexual emotion and vulnerability. Given the lack of research on how broad concepts of compassionate elements may be linked to sexual well-being, we examine how mindfulness (an ability to maintain awareness in the present moment), compassionate relational attitudes (i.e., accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement), and compassionate relational behaviors (i.e., forgiveness and gratitude), are linked to sexual well-being (sexual harmony, orgasm consistency, and sexual frequency), and sexual mindfulness (a state of being mindful during sex) for oneself and one’s partner.
Methods
We constructed an actor partner structural equation model with newly married couples (n = 2,111) and regressed sexual outcomes at time 1 and time 2 on each partner’s compassionate attitudes, behaviors and mindfulness reported at time 1.
Results
Results showed that cross-sectionally, nearly all elements of one’s compassion related to one’s own sexual well-being for both partners. Strongest paths included positive significant relations for women between mindfulness and non-judgment and from compassionate relational attitudes and behaviors to sexual harmony. Men’s compassionate behaviors were positively related to their own sexual awareness. Perhaps more importantly, women’s and men’s compassionate behaviors had significant effects on their partner’s sexual well-being longitudinally.
Discussion
Implications include an emphasis on compassion as a key mechanism that can increase sexual satisfaction and strengthen relationships, particularly in the critical time of early marriage where patterns of interconnectedness are being established.
... This is primarily because gratitude leads to a more positive evaluation of one's environment (Lambert et al., 2012). Often referred to as positive reframing (Lambert et al., 2009), customers experiencing gratitude are more likely to reframe negative events or experiences in a positive light. As a result, if a customer receives poor service from a frontline employee, that experience will be overlooked as an abnormal occurrence or reframed with a focus on the few positive aspects of the interaction. ...
Purpose
Employee gratitude is often associated with positive customer-related benefits. However, our understanding of employee gratitude is notably underdeveloped within the service literature. To address this issue, this study aims to position employee gratitude within the service profit chain (SPC) framework as a complementary mediator. Further, the authors empirically examine service climate as a central antecedent to employee gratitude and employee customer-oriented behavior as an outcome that triggers an internal and external reciprocal social exchange.
Design/methodology/approach
The examination of the research questions was done across two studies, using employee self-reported data (Study 1) and employee–customer dyadic data (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors investigate how employee gratitude mediates the relationship between service climate and customer-oriented behavior, with employee interpersonal influence functioning as a moderator. In Study 2, the authors examine how customer-oriented behavior, an outcome of Study 1, influences customer satisfaction and customer avoidance, with customer gratitude functioning as a mediator.
Findings
Results from both Study 1 and Study 2 support the proposed relationships. These studies contribute to the service literature by evaluating how and why employee gratitude functions as a significant factor in determining employee and customer behavior within the service context.
Originality/value
This work enriches the gratitude literature by empirically testing a novel theoretical perspective on employee and customer gratitude in service encounters. In doing so, the authors provide a more nuanced understanding of how internal and external processes are connected and potentially reinforced in SPC.
Gratitude interventions have been usually less effective for collectivistic cultures compared to individualistic cultures. The first study examined the impact of the target person in the efficacy of gratitude intervention in the Indian context. The second study examined whether conception of gratitude is similar between Indians and Anglo-Americans. In first study, 312 first-year undergraduate Indian students (Mage = 18.64, SD = 0.76) were randomly assigned to three groups. They wrote about a typical day in their life, gratitude toward a particular person of their choice and gratitude toward an immediate family member, respectively. Selected sub-scales of PANAS-X were administered before and after the intervention. In second study, 112 Indian participants (Mage = 27.63, SD = 5.82) and 80 Anglo-American (Mage = 38.48, SD = 11.94) participants took part in a survey whereby they needed to rate the centrality and positivity of some gratitude features. We found expressing gratitude toward an immediate family member was neither effective in increasing positive emotions nor effective in decreasing negative emotions. However, expressing gratitude toward any person of choice was effective in increasing positive emotions as well as decreasing negative emotions. Three prominent themes emerged for gratefulness toward any person, i.e., being an inspiration, providing a perspective in life, and emotional and financial support in success. Providing support to the hypotheses, indebtedness and its associated negative emotions were perceived more positively and more central to the concept of gratitude for Indian participants than Anglo-American participants.
The purpose of the study to examine the relationship between gratitude diaries, depression, anxiety and psychological well-being. It is designed as two groups as experimental study, control and experimental group. There are total of 36 participants that kept the gratitude diary and 25 participants in the normal diary group. The data of the study were collected using the sociodemographic form, Beck depression and anxiety scale, psychological well-being scale, appreciation-gratitude scales. These scales were applied to the participants twice, before the 4-week study and then after. As a result, the rates depression and anxiety of individuals keeping a gratitude diary are lower compared to the individuals who do not keep a gratitude diary. In addition, the fact that keeping a gratitude diary increases the psychological well-being and individuals with high gratitude rates have a positive relationship with psychological well-being.
Bu araştırmanın amacı, genç yetişkinlerde aile ikliminin yaşam doyumu ve psikolojik dayanıklılık ile olan ilişkisini değerlendirmektir. Bu çalışma nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden tarama modeli ile yapılmış olup, değişkenler arası ilişkiyi ortaya koymak için ilişkisel tarama modeli kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın evreni, bilinen herhangi bir fiziksel veya psikolojik rahatsızlık tanısı almamış, İstanbul’da yaşayan 18-35 yaş aralığındaki genç yetişkinlerdir. Araştırmanın örneklemi ise İstanbul’da ikamet eden 168 genç yetişkinden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Demografik Bilgi Formu, Aile İklimi Ölçeği, Psikolojik Dayanıklılık Ölçeği ve Yaşam Doyumu Ölçeği uygulanmıştır. Çalışma grubumuzdaki kişilerde Aile İklimi Ölçeği ortalama skorları ile yetiştiği ailenin gelir düzeyi, ebeveyn tutumu ve aile büyükleriyle iletişim durumu arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki olduğu saptanmıştır. Yetiştikleri ailenin gelir düzeyi ve ebeveyn tutumlarının hem genel aile iklimi algısı hem de aile içi ilişkisellik, bilişsel uyum ve kuşaklararası otorite algılarının her üçünü de etkileyen sosyodemografik özellikler olduğu görülmüştür. Yapılan korelasyon analizinde ise aile iklimi ile yaşam doyumu ve psikolojik dayanıklılık arasında pozitif yönlü ve anlamlı bir doğrusal ilişki olduğu bulunmuştur. Aile ikliminin yaşam doyumu ve psikolojik dayanıklılık üzerinde etkili olduğu; pozitif bir aile ikliminin aile bireylerinin yaşam doyumları ve psikolojik dayanıklılıklarını artırdığı saptanmıştır.
Data from the Central Department of Statistics in 2022, there are around 24.6 million people with disabilities in Indonesia, divided into 17 million people with disabilities who are of productive age and 7.6 million people who are working. This study aims to find out the description of gratitude in people with physical disabilities. The selection of the sample used in this research is purposive sampling technique. This study uses a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. The research subjects in this study were 2 persons with disabilities in the Budi Perkasa Sentra Palembang. Data collection techniques in this study are by way of interviews and observation. The results of the study showthat both subjects have a sense of gratitude in their lives. This can be seen from the attitude or nature of gratitude that the subject has, namely being grateful with his heart, words, and deeds. They do not forget to worship Allah, obey all orders and stay away from His prohibitions, and apply good words in daily life.
In this article the authors investigate how high unemployment and sustained economic crisis influence employee beliefs regarding their employers’ psychological contract (PC) obligations. Based on 32 semi-structured interviews with Greek white-collar employees, the authors compare PC changes among workers with pre-crisis work experience and others whose entire work lives coincide with the crisis. The majority of participants perceive their employer to exploit the crisis, demanding more of workers while offering them less. Those participants who remained with their pre-crisis employer held more positive perceptions. At the same time, social comparison and sense of gratitude influence how individuals interpret their employee–employer obligations. These factors buffer how individuals interpret their employer’s PC fulfillment in the crisis economy.
Background
Although gratitude is a culturally-sensitive construct, it has yet received very little research attention in Arab countries; hence hindering the understanding of its features, correlates, and cross-cultural specificities. To fill this gap, we sought to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the 6-item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ) in an Arabic-speaking sample of adults from the general population of Lebanon.
Method
We conducted a web-based survey including 601 participants (mean age 29.91 ± 12.61; 62.7% females). The forward-backward translation method was used for the translation and adaptation of the GQ-6 into the Arabic language.
Results
Findings indicated that a four-item version of the GQ achieved adequate fit statistics; with the removal of the two reverse-scored items 3 and 6. We found a McDonald Omega coefficient for the total 4-item GQ (GQ-4) scores of .88, thus attesting for the good reliability of the scale. Multiple-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the scale structure was invariant across male and female respondents at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. Females exhibited significantly higher gratitude scores compared to males. Finally, discriminant validity of the Arabic GQ-4 was evidenced through positive significant correlations with social support levels.
Conclusion
The Arabic adaptation of the GQ showed good psychometric qualities; suggesting that it is suitable for measuring people’s disposition toward gratitude in Arab backgrounds. Offering the Arabic GQ-4 as a brief, simple, cost-effective, valid, and reliable measure of gratitude to the Arabic-speaking community could help raise awareness about gratitude as a key component for achieving good mental health and wellbeing in Arab contexts.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara kebersyukuran dan resiliensi pada orangtua dengan anak berkebutuhan khusus. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif. Teknik sampling yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu purposive sampling. Sampel pada penelitian ini terdiri dari 45 orangtua dengan anak berkebutuhan khusus. Pengukuran data resiliensi dilakukan dengan menggunakan skala resiliensi yang disusun berdasarkan aspek resiliensi yang dikemukakan oleh Connor dan Davidson. Pengukuran kebersyukuran dilakukan dengan menggunakan skala kebersyukuran yang disusun berdasarkan aspek kebersyukuran yang dikemukakan oleh McCullough, Tsang dan Emmons. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan adalah teknik analisis korelasi Product Moment dari Karl Pearson. Berdasarkan hasil analisis diketahui bahwa ada hubungan positif yang sangat signifikan antara kebersyukuran dan resiliensi pada orangtua dengan anak berkebutuhan khusus dengan nilai koefisien korelasi sebesar 0.98 (p < 0.01). Hasil tersebut menunjukkan bahwa hipotesis yang menyatakan ada hubungan antara kebersyukuran dan resiliensi pada orangtua yang memiliki disable children dapat diterima. Hubungan positif menunjukkan bahwa semakin tinggi kebersyukuran maka semakin tinggi pula kecenderungan resiliensi yang dimiliki orangtua dengan anak berkebutuhan khusus.
This study explores the psychometric properties of the transpersonal gratitude scale (TGS) in the Indian context. It also examines the relationship between transpersonal gratitude, spiritual well-being, and distress. The psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the TGS were evaluated with the help of two studies. In the first study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) reported a four-factor solution. These four factors- expression of gratitude, value of gratitude, transcendent gratitude, and spiritual connection- explained 74.1% of the total variance. Further, CFA results indicated an excellent model fit of four-factor structure derived from EFA. These findings recommended appropriate factorial validity of TGS in the Indian context. In the second study, Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability values recommended reliability of TGS among Indians. Also, the average variance explained (AVE) values and the Fornell–Larcker test concluded convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. In addition, positive correlations were reported between TGS, GRAT-16 (gratitude resentment and appreciation scale), and spiritual well-being scale scores. Also, a negative linkage was reported between TGS and distress score. These associations established criterion validity of the scale. Overall, the scale reported acceptable psychometric properties in the Indian context.
Gratitude for another person’s actions has received exponential attention from the scientific community for its many benefits. Yet, this research is virtually silent on one key target of gratitude – god – despite billions of people believing in a personal, intervening, and benevolent god. In a large multi-method study, we sampled U.S. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and Christians (N = 1270). First, we document the prevalence of spontaneous mentions of god as the target of a gratitude expression following a personal success. Only 16% of our religious participants did mention god but priming god increased this number to 29%. Second, we document a wider array of eliciting situations of gratitude to god (GTG) compared to gratitude to another person (GTO) and particularly for broad good things in life that don’t have a clear agent. Finally, we document ways that GTG vs. GTO is demonstrated, suggesting that GTG sustains religious practice and builds morality.
Gratitude is teaching about morality that concerns all aspects of human life. This study aims to determine the spiritual values of gratitude in the Qur'an in relation to character in Islamic education. Through a subjective-cum-objective hermeneutic approach, the research results show that gratitude contains several character values that are needed in Islamic education. These character values include, amanah, qonā'ah, istiqāmah, tawāḍu', tawakal, optimistic, creative, hard work and social care. The results of this study indicate that gratitude is the main character that contains religious and social character values based on belief and faith in God. These character values are needed in achieving the goals of Islamic education.
Public expectations of forests as high-quality restorative environments that facilitate subjective well-being and stress relief along with numerous health benefits have been rising sharply during recent decades. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictive measures also transformed forests into some of the few places to spend time away from home. The presented study drew on the assumption that the pandemic situation and a rise in the number of forest visits would affect the experience, recognition, and appreciation of the well-being aspects related to spending time in forests. The study goal was to elucidate the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relationships between forest visits, well-being and stress relief, emotions, perception of nature and forest value and importance, pro-environmental behavior, and societal expectations of the role of forests and forest ecosystem services. A survey using a digital questionnaire was conducted several months after the pandemic outbreak on a representative sample of the Slovak population. The Wilcoxon test and ordinal regression analysis were used to identify significant relationships, e.g., between the recency of anger episodes and the number of forest visits. The results showed that the pandemic strengthened the perception of forests as a high-quality restorative environment and that emotions associated with forest visits played an important role in the perceived importance of forests and their possible overexploitation. The results underscore the urgent need to put demands for forest recreation on par with the forest bioeconomy and to sensitize forest visitors to management and conservation requirements.
“Gratitude” has multiple meanings. One distinction is between gratitude with and without a benefactor. This paper presents two daily diary studies examining the experience of gratitude without a benefactor. In the first, some participants wrote each day about something good caused by someone else whereas others wrote about something good caused neither by self nor other. In the second, all participants wrote each day about something good caused neither by self nor other. Both studies included a novel measure of gratitude designed to distinguish gratitude with and without a benefactor. Across both studies, participants reported feeling gratitude even without a benefactor, and the novel measure of gratitude predicted daily gratitude even after controlling for other gratitude measures. In study 2, participants reported that benefactorless gratitude made them feel the motivational goals of being more obligated, spiritual, resourceful, indebted, generous, celebratory and wanting to help someone else, even after controlling for joy. Some analyses suggest that gratitude with a benefactor is particularly associated with obligation. For instance, in study 1, daily gratitude with a benefactor was more related to obligation than gratitude without a benefactor. These studies suggest that distinctions between gratitude with versus without a benefactor warrant continued exploration.
The present study explored the psychometric properties of the Multi-Component Gratitude Measure (MCGM), in Spanish with a sample of Colombian children. The sample was composed of 540 schoolchildren between 8–12 years old (265 females, mean age 10.04 years; 75 males, mean age 10.08 years). The MCGM aims to examine more comprehensively the moral virtue of gratitude as a construct with 3 components (emotional, conative/attitudinal, and behavioral) distributed across 6 subscales. We translated the MCGM into Spanish and validated the factor structure in a principal component analysis, basing the analysis on the 6 subscales. We corroborated that gratitude can be understood as a complex, multi-component construct from children's perspectives. Overall, the MCGM subscales showed good reliability coefficients between 0.7 and 0.9. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 4-factor model structure (obtained in the PCA) presented the best-adjusted fit indices. Factor 1 represented the feelings subscale, factor 2 represented the attitudinal component, and factors 3 and 4 the behavioral component. Convergent validity was evaluated with other instruments of gratitude, along with additional variables including positive emotion, prosocial behavior and wellbeing, in a subsample of 210 children. Multiple sources of evidence indicate that the translated and validated measure, the MCGM-Spanish Youth (MCGM-SY), is an instrument with good reliability and validity for measuring gratitude in Spanish-speaking children.
This study investigates when and how trait gratitude stimulates tourist citizenship behavior (TCB). Building on trait activation theory, the present study proposes a mediated moderation model in which tourists’ trait gratitude and positive resident–tourist contact jointly influence TCB. In driving TCB, the interactive effect of trait gratitude and positive contact is mediated by perceived insider status. Data were collected from 497 Mount Wuyi tourists and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that trait gratitude positively influences TCB, and this relationship is moderated by positive contact. Furthermore, positive contact moderates the association between trait gratitude and perceived insider status. Additionally, perceived insider status, which is positively related to TCB, significantly mediates the moderating effects of positive contact on the link between tourists’ trait gratitude and TCB.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies 1 and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
A reaction time study showed that the concept of emotion is more like a prototypically organized concept than a classically defined one. Emotion terms rated as better examples of “emotion” (such as anger) were verified as emotions faster than were terms rated as poorer examples (such as awe).
The purpose of these studies was to develop a valid measure of trait gratitude, and to evaluate the relationship of gratitude to subjective well-being (SWB). Four studies were conducted evaluating the reliability and validity of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT),
a measure of dispositional gratitude. This measure was shown to have good internal consistency and temporal stability. The GRAT was shown to relate positively to various measures of SWB. In two experiments, it was shown that grateful thinking improved mood, and results also supported the predictive
validity of the GRAT. These studies support the theory that gratitude is an affective trait important to SWB.
Conducted 9 experiments with a total of 663 undergraduates using the technique of priming to study the nature of the cognitive representation generated by superordinate semantic category names. In Exp I, norms for the internal structure of 10 categories were collected. In Exps II, III, and IV, internal structure was found to affect the perceptual encoding of physically identical pairs of stimuli, facilitating responses to physically identical good members and hindering responses to identical poor members of a category. Exps V and VI showed that the category name did not generate a physical code (e.g., lines or angles), but rather affected perception of the stimuli at the level of meaning. Exps VII and VIII showed that while the representation of the category name which affected perception contained a depth meaning common to words and pictures which enabled Ss to prepare for either stimulus form within 700 msec, selective reduction of the interval between prime and stimulus below 700 msec revealed differentiation of the coding of meaning in preparation for actual perception. Exp IX suggested that good examples of semantic categories are not physiologically determined, as the effects of the internal structure of semantic categories on priming (unlike the effects for color categories) could be eliminated by long practice. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The author's approach is to think with you about what gratitude is, to offer what philosophers call a conceptual analysis of gratitude, and then to use that analysis to show how gratitude as a virtue relates to some emotion dispositions that most would agree constitute or promote unhappiness-resentment, regret, and envy. Because of facts about the conceptual structures of these emotions and the vices they may express, these emotions are in tension with gratitude in various ways, so that the disposition to feel gratitude tends to reduce the dispositions to each of the other emotions and to replace it with something happier. As we explore the conceptual relationships between gratitude and each of these emotion types, the author identifies a number of ways that gratitude contributes to human well-being. The author hopes this discussion clarifies issues and suggests research agendas for those who are more empirically minded. Such empirical research will have presuppositions that the philosopher can help to make explicit; so empirical research cannot settle all questions in this domain. But it can in principle settle questions in a hypothetical mode. Assuming a certain picture of normative human nature, it might be able to establish that gratitude promotes human well-being by mitigating dispositions to resentment, regret, and envy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Analyzed lay conceptions of love and commitment from a prototype perspective. In Study 1, Ss listed the features of love and/or commitment. In Study 2, centrality (prototypicality) ratings of these features were obtained. In Study 3, central features were found to be more salient in memory than peripheral features. In Study 4, it was shown that it sounded peculiar to hedge central but not peripheral features. In Study 5, central features of love were expected to be more applicable than peripheral features as relationships increased in love. Similarly for commitment, central features were expected to be more applicable than peripheral features as relationships increased in commitment. In Study 6, violations of central features of love were perceived as contributing to a greater decrease in love than were violations of peripheral features. Similarly, violations of central features of commitment were perceived as contributing to a greater decrease in commitment than were violations of peripheral features. I concluded that the findings across several studies fit best with Kelley's (1983) description of love and commitment as largely overlapping but partially independent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Even if superordinate concepts (such as "fruit," "vehicle," "sport") are prototypically organized, basic-level concepts (such as "apple," "truck," "hockey") might be classically defined in terms of individually necessary and jointly sufficient features. A series of 6 studies examined 1 basic-level concept in the domain of emotion, "love," and found that it is better understood from a prototype than a classical perspective. The natural language concept of "love" has an internal structure and fuzzy borders: Maternal love, romantic love, affection, love of work, self-love, infatuation, and other subtypes of love can be reliably ordered from better to poorer examples of love. In turn, each subtype's goodness as an example of love (prototypicality) was found to predict various indices of its cognitive processing. Implications for a scientific definition and typology of love are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Extracted terms and phrases that refer to relatively stable physical and psychological traits from Theodore Dreiser's A Gallery of Women. A measure of trait cooccurrence for each pair of traits, based on the proportion of times the 2 traits were attributed to the same character, was used as input for clustering and multidimensional scaling. The resulting structures are interpreted in terms of selected, independently measured properties of the traits. The most relevant properties for interpreting these trait structures are (a) sex of character, (b) conformity, (c) evaluation, and (d) potency (hard-soft). The 1st property is discussed in terms of Dreiser's involvements with women, and the 2nd in terms of his intense struggles with conformity pressures. Evaluation (which was not orthogonal to potency in this study) was relatively weak by contrast with the usual finding reported in the literature. Biographical data indicate that Dreiser was extremely evaluative in his personal life, and the weakness of this property in this book may simply reflect a novelistic style that attempts to avoid polarized impressions of the characters. Implications of these findings for identifying general dimensions of person perception are discussed. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.
Reports 7 studies that explored the possibility that the concept of emotion is better understood from a prototype perspective than from a classical one. Specifically it is argued that membership in the concept of emotion is a matter of degree rather than all-or-none (that the concept has an internal structure) and that no sharp boundary separates members from nonmembers (that the concept has fuzzy boundaries). Undergraduates served as Ss in all experiments. As hypothesized, the concept of emotion was found to have an internal structure: Happiness, love, anger, fear, awe, respect, envy, and other types of emotion could be reliably ordered from better to poorer examples of emotion. In turn, an emotion's goodness of example (prototypicality) ranking predicted how readily it comes to mind when one is asked to list emotions, how likely it is to be labeled as an emotion when one is asked what sort of thing it is, how readily it can be substituted for the word emotion in sentences without their sounding unnatural, and the degree to which it resembles other emotion categories in terms of shared features. (54 ref)
PREDICTED THAT FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE ARE A FUNCTION OF THE RECIPIENT'S PERCEPTIONS OF THE INTENTION OF THE BENEFACTOR, THE COST TO THE BENEFACTOR IN PROVIDING THE BENEFIT, AND THE VALUE OF THE BENEFIT. 126 MALE STUDENTS READ VARIANTS OF EACH OF 3 STORY THEMES AND INDICATED THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF THE ABOVE 3 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND ALSO HOW GRATEFUL THEY FELT TOWARD THE BENEFACTOR. EACH OF THE 3 PREDICTED FACTORS WAS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO FELT GRATITUDE. NO INTERACTIONS WERE FOUND. MULTIPLE REGRESSION WAS PERFORMED FOR EACH THEME. VALIDATION ON A HOLD-OUT GROUP WAS .73, .82, AND .71 FOR THE 3 THEMES.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study I revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies I and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity. Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
A prototype interaction-pattern model of intimacy expectations was proposed. The central tenet of this model was that people develop knowledge of the patterns of relating that are likely to produce intimacy in a same-sex friendship. Further, it was posited that these interaction patterns are structured as prototypes, such that some patterns of relating are regarded as more likely to create a sense of intimacy than others. Support for this model was found in 6 studies. Interaction patterns depicting self-disclosure, emotional support, and the like were considered more prototypical of intimacy expectations than patterns depicting shared activities and practical support. Regarding gender, women rated intimacy interaction patterns higher than did men, particularly prototypical patterns. However, women and men agreed that prototypical interaction patterns were more indicative of intimacy in a friendship than nonprototypical patterns. Implications for the controversy over whether women's friendships are more intimate than men's are discussed.
A longitudinal study of 308 white-collar U.S. employees revealed that feelings of hope and gratitude increase concern for corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, employees with stronger hope and gratitude were found to have a greater sense of responsibility toward employee and societal issues; interestingly, employee hope and gratitude did not affect sense of responsibility toward economic and safety/quality issues. These findings offer an extension of research by Giacalone, Paul, and Jurkiewicz (2005, Journal of Business Ethics, 58, 295-305). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
This chapter examines the notion of gratitude as gratefulness and as thankfulness. It suggests that there are phenomenologically different modes of experience that require the distinction between gratefulness and thankfulness and describes the respective uses of each form of gratitude. It analyzes idiomatic usage and etymological derivation of the term gratitude and proposes a series of theses that explore the contours of gratitude.
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the psychological aspects of gratitude. It discusses the reasons behind the increased interest in gratitude. These include the focus of the positive psychology movement on human strength and virtues, renewed interest of social scientists in people's religious and spiritual lives and resurgent interest in virtue ethics, a subfield of moral philosophy. This book examines the prosocial contours of gratitude, its origin and its manifestations and development in modern life.
Deplorant la restriction de l'analyse morale contemporaine de la gratitude au seul domaine de la justice et de la problematique de la dette de reconnaissance, l'A. examine deux exemples bouddhistes ou la gratitude revet une importance morale plus grande: le cas de la gratitude envers ceux qui vous font du mal et celui de la gratitude envers ceux qui vous sont profitables. Soulignant la necessite de la gratitude dans certains cas ou la justice ne le requiert pas, l'A. montre que la gratitude est une des voies les plus communes que la moralite nous invite a suivre dans nos relations a autrui
An empirical relationship has been documented between gratitude and materialism, such that stronger feelings of gratitude are associated with lower materialism. Building on Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) theory that positive emotions ‘broaden’ and ‘build’ we sought to expand upon this finding by (1) examining satisfaction with life as a potential mechanism for this relationship, and (2) exploring the causal direction of this relationship through experimental means. Study 1 (n = 131) demonstrated that satisfaction with life mediated the relationship between gratitude and materialism. Study 2 (n = 171) showed that that experimentally induced gratitude resulted in higher satisfaction with life and lower materialism in a high gratitude condition compared to an envy (low gratitude) condition. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.
Perhaps beginning with Cicero, who called gratitude "the parent of the virtues," scholars in the humanities have associated gratitude with morality and prosocial behavior. The limited amount of social scientific research on gratitude that has accumulated over the last century demonstrates these assertions to be generally accurate, with some qualifications. The emotion of gratitude functions as a moral barometer, a moral motive, and (when people express their grateful emotions in words or actions) a moral reinforcer. Furthermore, we hypothesized that, because gratitude is so closely tied to moral and prosocial behaviors, personality differences in gratitude would be positively associated with traits that facilitate interpersonal relations, and negatively associated with traits that interfere with maintaining stable, positive relationships (see Roberts, chap. 4, this volume, for details on the distinction between emotional and dispositional gratitude). In this chapter, we elaborate on each of these hypotheses and briefly describe the strength of supporting research evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Empirical work on love has focused mainly on romantic/passionate love. Recent research suggests that other kinds of love, such as friendship love and familial love, may be more salient to laypeople (Fehr & Russell, 1991). One purpose of this research was to offer a more complete picture of how laypeople conceptualize love by exploring a broad range of types of love. The other major purpose was to develop a methodology for studying laypeople's conceptions of different kinds of love. Four studies were conducted. In Study 1, dating couples were presented with prototypes of 15 different types of love. They were asked to rate how similar the conception of love depicted in each prototype was to their own view of love. Study 2 was a replication of Study 1 with subjects who were not dating one another. In Study 3, the validity of the prototype measures was explored by asking subjects to determine the kind of love depicted in each prototype. Study 4 investigated the relation between the prototypes of love and existing love scales and therefore addressed issues of convergent and discriminant validity. These prototype-based measures showed considerable promise as valid, reliable instruments for assessing people's views of love. They revealed that laypeople regard friendship love and familial kinds of love as closest to their own view. Passionate kinds of love (e.g., passionate, infatuation, puppy love) received the lowest ratings. The measures also proved useful in elucidating the relation between laypeople's and experts' conceptions of romantic and passionate love.
We hypothesized that gratitude would be related to sense of coherence via positive reframing, which is a process by which negative events or circumstances are seen in a positive light. We tested this hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1 (N =166) we found a strong, robust relationship between trait gratitude and sense of coherence above and beyond life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, happiness, and social desirability. Study 2 (N =275) showed that gratitude at Time 1 predicted sense of coherence at Time 2, controlling for baseline scores. Positive reframing mediated the relationship between gratitude and SOC. Results are discussed in terms of their practical implications.
Although scholars and counselors have long acknowledged a link between financial problems and marital outcomes, little research has examined how materialistic attitudes may affect these associations. This article examines a conceptual model linking spousal materialism, perceived financial problems, and marital satisfaction. Group comparison and structural equation modeling analyses were run with a nationally representative sample of 600 married couples. Analyses confirmed that higher levels of spousal materialism are associated with increased perceptions of financial problems, which in turn are negatively associated with levels of marital satisfaction. Analyses also found that materialistic attitudes have a stronger impact on spouses' perceptions of financial problems than do levels of couple income. These findings support the notion that materialism contributes to how couples define and react to financial problems in their relationship and that these factors indirectly and directly affect general levels of marital satisfaction. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.
An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that it is easier to process information about characters who fit well with and are, therefore, “prototypical” of shared beliefs about various personality types. Character prototypicality was manipulated in a free recall and personality impression paradigm through variations in the consistency of a character's identification with preexisting beliefs about two personality-type categories—extraversion and introversion. Subjects also were given information about each character that varied in degree of abstraction from traits to concrete behavior. As predicted, both the amount and nature of the information correctly recalled were significantly affected by the consistency of the character's identification with extraversion or with introversion. Character consistency also significantly affected the amount of material written in the personality impressions and the tendency to qualify the generality of the impressions. The results support a model in which incoming data about personality are coded, structured, elaborated, and remembered according to the quality of their match with preexisting beliefs about various personality types.
This research was conducted to examine the hypothesis that expressing gratitude to a relationship partner enhances one's perception of the relationship's communal strength. In Study 1 (N = 137), a cross-sectional survey, expressing gratitude to a relationship partner was positively associated with the expresser's perception of the communal strength of the relationship. In Study 2 (N = 218), expressing gratitude predicted increases in the expresser's perceptions of the communal strength of the relationship across time. In Study 3 (N = 75), participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition, in which they expressed gratitude to a friend, or to one of three control conditions, in which they thought grateful thoughts about a friend, thought about daily activities, or had positive interactions with a friend. At the end of the study, perceived communal strength was higher among participants in the expression-of-gratitude condition than among those in all three control conditions. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these findings and suggest directions for future research.
Analyzed lay conceptions of love and commitment from a prototype perspective. In Study 1, Ss listed the features of love and/or commitment. In Study 2, centrality (prototypicality) ratings of these features were obtained. In Study 3, central features were found to be more salient in memory than peripheral features. In Study 4, it was shown that it sounded peculiar to hedge central but not peripheral features. In Study 5, central features of love were expected to be more applicable than peripheral features as relationships increased in love. Similarly for commitment, central features were expected to be more applicable than peripheral features as relationships increased in commitment. In Study 6, violations of central features of love were perceived as contributing to a greater decrease in love than were violations of peripheral features. Similarly, violations of central features of commitment were perceived as contributing to a greater decrease in commitment than were violations of peripheral features. I concluded that the findings across several studies fit best with Kelley's (1983) description of love and commitment as largely overlapping but partially independent.
Adler (2002; Adler & Fagley, 2001) argued that being appreciative facilitates and enhances feelings of well-being and life satisfaction, as well as feelings of connection to what we have, to what we experience, and to life itself. In addition, expressing appreciation to others is believed to build social bonds. Although appreciation is viewed as a disposition, it is also viewed as something people can learn over time, making it an especially valuable construct to measure. Appreciating something (e.g. an event, a person, a behavior, an object) involves noticing and acknowledging its value and meaning and feeling a positive emotional connection to it. We defined eight aspects of appreciation and developed scales to measure them: a focus on what one has ("Have" Focus), Awe, Ritual, Present Moment, Self/Social Comparison, Gratitude, Loss/Adversity, Interpersonal. Scores on the subscales may be totaled to yield a score representing one's overall degree of appreciation (or level of appreciativeness) (coefficient alpha=.94). We also developed an 18-item short form (coefficient alpha=.91) that correlates .95 with scores on the long form. The scales correlated in predicted ways with measures of life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. More importantly, appreciation was significantly related to life satisfaction and positive affect, even after the effects of optimism, spirituality, and emotional self-awareness had been statistically controlled.
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