A social-cognitive model of trait and state levels of gratitude.

Three studies tested a new model of gratitude, which specified the generative mechanisms linking individual differences (trait gratitude) and objective situations with the amount of gratitude people experience after receiving aid (state gratitude). In Study 1, all participants (N = 253) read identical vignettes describing a situation in which they received help. People higher in trait gratitude made more positive beneficial appraisals (seeing the help as more valuable, more costly to provide, and more altruistically intended), which fully mediated the relationship between trait and state levels of gratitude. Study 2 (N = 113) replicated the findings using a daily process study in which participants reported on real events each day for up to14 days. In Study 3, participants (N = 200) read vignettes experimentally manipulating objective situations to be either high or low in benefit. Benefit appraisals were shown to have a causal effect on state gratitude and to mediate the relationship between different prosocial situations and state gratitude. The 3 studies demonstrate the critical role of benefit appraisals in linking state gratitude with trait gratitude and the objective situation

Ripples of Gratitude: The Flow-on Effects of Practicing Gratitude in the Classroom Environment

This research explores God’s call to gratitude, summarizes current research on the benefits of gratitude, identifies key gratitude disciplines/practices, and utilizes a conceptual framework to study gratitude in the context of educational settings. In contribution to the relatively recent discussion on gratitude, especially in the education field, the researchers explored the effects when pre-service teachers practice an inner attitude of gratitude and intentionally express gratitude in the classroom setting. This study expands the current educational research of gratitude by incorporating three primary gratitude practices – the State of Preparedness, gratitude language, and gratitude journaling – and examining both personal benefits and flow-on effect toward the teaching-learning process. Fourteen pre-service elementary school teachers were invited to practice gratitude during nine weeks of their full-time fieldwork placements. Participants experienced personal benefits such as enhanced well-being, strengthened relationships, and heightened cognitive skills. Ripples of gratitude were observed as positive flow-on effects in their classrooms: a more positive and calmer classroom atmosphere, better behaved students, and students more willing to focus effort towards learning. Pre-service teachers also experienced a flow-on effect towards themselves through increased resiliency when facing adversity and greater satisfaction in teaching. These findings are significant for the field of education as the power of gratitude can foster positive transformation through promoting engaged environments and strengthened relationships for both teacher and student

Gratitude as an Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Strategy

Reviews the book, The Spectrum of Gratitude Experience by John Elfers and Patty Hlava. Elfers and Hlava articulate the gratitude experience from a scientific perspective. They present key features of the lived gratitude experience in separate chapters but nicely scaffold their argument. These authors effectively unravel the complexity of this affective experience and explain its utility. The authors weave the role of gratitude in interpersonal relationships throughout the book. Principally, they define gratitude as a positive emotional experience derived from being given a benefit, typically (although not exclusively) in caring relationships. The authors present the evolutionary origin of gratitude, define types of gratitude, and discuss its development in one’s identity. Perhaps the most compelling information is on the effects of experiencing gratitude. This book is most relevant for affective scientists. The authors delicately bridge various theories of emotion (e.g., basic, cognitive, action tendencies) to provide a framework for the multifaceted nature of gratitude. You do not need to have a background in psychology to appreciate this book. It would interest anyone who is curious about the human condition

Can non-theists appropriately feel existential gratitude?

Does it make sense for non-theists to feel gratitude for their existence? The question arises because gratitude is typically thought to be directed towards a person to whom one is grateful. Hence the theist may be grateful to God for their existence, experienced as a gift. But can the non-believer feel something similar without being irrational? Can there be gratitude for existence but not to anyone? After analysing gratitude and how we can best understand the idea of non-directed gratitude, I discuss the conditions that need to apply for non-directed gratitude to be appropriate. I end by discussing whether theism provides a psychologically richer and more satisfying framework for understanding existential gratitude

Burning Man Values Examined: Gratitude as a Culturally-Driven and Value-Based Organizational Mainstay

Gratitude expression is examined as a culturally-derived principle that can be adopted as a best practices strategy that can make organizations more dynamic and human relationships more meaningful. Burning Man is presented as an exemplar of gratitude implementation by crafting the expression of gratitude into an elevated organizational phenomenon (including a cultural principal of unconditional gifting). Burning Man has also crafted a “Culture of Appreciation” as a set of organizationally-derived practices complementary to processes of gratitude implementation. The paper concludes with a discussion of gratitude and appreciation as an organizational mainstay

The Power, Structure, and Practice of Gratitude in Education: A Demonstration of Epistemology and Empirical Research Working Together

A growing body of philosophical, psychological, and educational research shows that gratitude has positive effects on mood, relationships, and learning. This paper explores the power of gratitude, investigates how the ontological (inward), teleological (forward), and metaphysical (upward) structure of gratitude can enhance learning, and then highlights a research study revealing teachers’ perspectives on the impact of practicing gratitude in the classroom environment. Four themes emerged from the empirical study that support the gratitude structure: two themes relate to the impact on teachers (enhanced well-being and calm amidst stress), and two themes relate to the impact on students (enhanced classroom environment and strengthened learning). Together, the epistemological framework and the empirical evidence demonstrate that using the structure and the practice of gratitude together in the context of the classroom environment bolsters educational pursuits

Conceptualizing gratitude and appreciation as a unitary personality trait

Gratitude and appreciation are currently measured using three self-report instruments, the GQ6 (1 scale), the Appreciation Scale (8 scales), and the GRAT (3 scales). Two studies were conducted to test how these three instruments are interrelated, whether they exist under the same higher order factor or factors, and whether gratitude and appreciation is a single or multi-factorial construct. In Study 1 (N = 206) all 12 scales were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Both parallel analysis and the minimum average partial method indicated a clear one-factor solution. In Study 2 (N = 389) multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the one-factor structure, demonstrated the invariance of this structure across gender, and ruled out the confounding effect of socially desirable responding. We conclude gratitude and appreciation are a single-factor personality trait. We suggest integration of gratitude and appreciation literatures and provide a clearer conceptualization of gratitude

Cosmic Gratitude

Classically, gratitude is a tri-polar construal, logically ordering a benefactor, a benefice, and a beneficiary in a favour-giving-receiving situation. Grammatically, the poles are distinguished and bound together by the prepositions ”to’ and ”for’; so I call this classic concept ”to-for’ gratitude. Classic religious gratitude follows this schema, with God as the benefactor. Such gratitude, when felt, is a religious experience, and a reliable readiness or ”habit’ of such construal is a religious virtue. However, atheists have sometimes felt an urge or need for an analogous experience and virtue of gratitude, and theists sometimes feel intellectual discomfort with classical theistic gratitude on consideration of the misfortunes that characterize our life along with its blessings. In response, another conception of religious gratitude has been attempted, a construal that lacks the to-for structure. This paper probes the significance of the benefactor for gratitude, both secular and religious, and, with Søren Kierkegaard’s help, some features of the theology of classical religious gratitude that dissolve the problem of misfortunes