Positive traits, values and attitudes - GRATITUDE Flashcards
What is gratitude (list of 5 things it is)
1) An emotion: an acute, intense, and relatively brief psychophysiological (thoughts and responses of the body) reaction to being the recipient of a benefit (pro-social act) from another
2) A personality trait → individuals who experiences more frequently/with greater intensity
3) A moral virtue
4) A habit → pattern of behaviour
5) A way of life
• Humanist/Buddhist
• Way of approaching life in general
The grateful person is what?
- Motivated to prosocial behaviour
- Energized to sustain prosocial behaviour → important in the human species as we are very social animals, contribute to survival
- Inhibited from destructive interpersonal behaviour
What are the 3 functions of gratitude?
1) moral barometer: Alerts people to receiving prosocial behaviour from others
2) Moral motivator: Stimulates us to behave prosocially towards others, as they have towards us
3) Moral reinforcer: Reinforce us for prosocial behaviour towards others
How can gratitude be viewed as an affective trait?
- More frequent experiences of gratitude
- More intense gratitude for event
- Respond to more situations with gratitude → broader range of gratitude responses to things and people at large
- Generalize gratitude to more people for given event (spread it more widely)
how do we measure gratitude? (2 ways)
Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6)
- Six statements on 7-point Liekert scale, strongly agree to strongly disagree
Gratitude, resentment, Appreciation Test (GRAT)
- 44 items on 3 factors (abundance, simple appreciation, appreciation of others)
What do high scores on the GQ-6 predict
- Observer ratings of gratitude
- Positive affect
- Well-being
- Prosocial behaviour
- Religiousness, spirituality
- Low envy and jealousy
- Low materialism
- high in Extraversion, Agreeableness
- Low neuroticism
Which of big five characteristic is correlated to high scores of Gratitude?
high in AGREEABLENESS, EXTRAVERSION
low NEUROTICISM
explain the 3 factors by which items on the GRAT are organized
- Abundance (A) - is there enough good things around me
- Simple appreciation (SA) - enjoy the simple things, life/nature
- Appreciation of others (AO)
How does GRAT view gratitude?
- Acknowledging important of experiencing and expressing gratitude → this is an important emotion to experience for everybody
- Lack of resentment with respect to benefits received → feeling that they were deserved, feeling that they weren’t enough or weren’t sufficient
- Appreciation for contribution of others to benefits received → people are largely responsible
- Appreciation of frequent simple pleasures rather than extravagant, infrequent pleasures
What have high scores on the GRAT test correlated with?
- Positively correlated with satisfaction with life scale (SWLS): r = .50 to .60 (25-30% OF VARIANCE ACCOUNTED FOR BY GRATITUDE)
- Negatively correlated with Beck Depression Inventory: r =-.34 to -.56 10-25%
How did two kinds of gratitude affect marital status in 50 couples long relationship couples (Gordon 2011)
what was the surprising finding in this study?
• Two kinds: extent to which they felt grateful and the extent they expressed that gratitude to their partner
- Both felt and expressed gratitude positively related to marital satisfaction
- Felt gratitude predicted spouse’s satisfaction
- Expressed gratitude did not → expressing is not important
- Your feelings of gratitude may be conveyed in a way that is not captured by expression
how did gratitude effect relationships in gordon et al’s 2012 study?
if appreciated by partner, then more appreciative of partner; more responsive to partner’s needs, more committed to relationship
what did Algoe, Gable & Maisel (2010) find about gratitude and indebtedness in cohabiting couples
• Thoughtful behaviour motivated both gratitude and indebtedness
• Gratitude predicted increased relationship connection and satisfaction on following day
= immediate effect
what did Grant & Gino (2010) find about written expressions of gratitude motivate prosocial behaviour in helpers:
- Expressions of gratitude motivate helper to be prosocial toward grateful beneficiary, and to others
- Effects of gratitude mediated by feelings of social worth (two aspects of self-esteem), not by affect or sense of self-efficacy
What did Froh, Bono & Emmons (2010) find using a longitudinal study (3 measurements) of 700 adolescents’ gratitude and social integration (belongingness)
- T1 gratitude predicted T2 prosocial behaviour and T3 social integration, mediated by life satisfaction → gratitude and prosocial behaviour reinforce each other and lead to higher levels
- Also reported higher levels of positive affect but no difference in negative affect
- Gratitude and prosocial behaviour serially enhanced each other; upward spiral toward more emotional, social well-being
How does gratitude intereact with health based on what Kendler et al (2003) found in 2600 twins
thankfulness associated with reduced risk of internalizing (anxiety, depression) and externalizing disorders (antisocial behaviours, aggression, hostility)
• Cannot determine causality
what did Wood et al (2009) find gratitude was associated with regarding sleep?
better sleep quality, duration, lower daytime dysfunction (anxiety, depression, interpersonal discord)
• Relationship mediated by more positive, fewer negative pre-sleep thoughts
• All relationship independent of personality traits, social desirability (worthiness)
What did kubacka et al (2011) 4-year study of marital satisfaction find about relationship maintenance in couples?
- Gratitude toward partner based on partner’s relationship maintenance behaviours
- Gratitude toward partner based on partner’s relationship maintenance behaviours in reciprocal form → virtuous spiral
- Gratitude (and forgiveness) strongly associated with ________ in ________ patients
> what was this mediated by?
well-being in psychotherapy outpatients (Toussaint & Freedman, 2009)
• Largely mediated by high affect, positive beliefs
Writing about gratitude in one group (as opposed to hassle condition) associated with higher levels of what?
several measures of well-being in experimental study (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)
- suggests a causal link
what did Kendler et al (2003) find thankfullness was associated with in 2600 twins
thankfulness associated with reduced risk of internalizing (anxiety, depression), externalizing disorders (antisocial behaviours, aggression, hostility)
• Cannot determine causality
- Gratitude fully mediated relationship between ________ partially mediated relationship between ________(Ziskis, 2011)
1) Agreeableness & SWB
2) SWB & Extroversion
Kahlo (2010) found positive relationship between gratitude (GRAT) and what multiple dimensions of wellness in 160 university students
- Generally psychological and physical wellness
- Positive relationship between GRAT and every measure of wellness that they looked at
- No causality
what did Toepfer, Cichy & Peters (2012) find about writing letters of gratitude
they increased happiness, life satisfaction, and reduced depressive symptoms
• We can draw causal conclusions as they did a manipulation
• Expressing sentiments of gratitude does produce positive effects
what did Ruini & Vescovelli (2012) find in 67 breast cancer patients, by comparing those expressing high vs low levels of gratitude (GQ-6), split in the middle of the scale (27 high, 40 low)
- Gratitude positively related to all aspects of post-traumatic growth, and to positive well-being
- Gratitude negatively related to anxiety, depression, hostility-irritability
what did Vernon et al (2009); Vernon (2012) find about Coping and PTSD symptoms in 182 university women with trauma history
> similar results found in combat veterans
- Gratitude expressions after the trauma was negatively related to PTSD symptoms
- Post-trauma gratitude negatively related to PTSD symptom severity
- Relationship holds after controlling for trauma history, severity, time since trauma
- Satisfaction with life (SWLS – Diener’s scale) correlated positively with ______?
gratitude (and optimism)
- Grateful disposition, trait gratitude (and forgiveness) jointly predict what?
SWB in older Christians (Scheidle, 2011)
- _________gratitude positively related to meaningful life orientation to happiness, and personal accomplishment. Negatively with aspects of _______, in Hong Kong (Chan, 2010)
dispositional gratitude
negatively with burnout
- Gratitude predicted what in Taiwanese HS athletes. Negatively related to ____ (Chen & Kee, 2008)
1) life satisfaction, team satisfaction
2) athlete burnout
- Gratitude explained significant variance in ________ well-being and _______ after controlling for facets of Big 5 (Wood, Joseph & Maltby, 2009)
psychological well being and life satisfaction
how does gratitude facilitate coping with strength?
Providing useful coping skills
→ more grateful = more likely to seek support
• Positive reframing (useful cognition): focus on benefits, others; less focus on losses → similar to optimism, positive outcomes in negative situations
• Active, approach-oriented problem-solving
How does gratitude reduce negative comparisons?
- Tend not to make these comparisons to the same degree or extent
- With others better off than oneself (envy)
- With better possible life outcomes than one had (regret)
How does gratitude Reduce materialistic strivings
- Materialistic strivings associated with lower SWB
- With better possible life outcomes than one had (regret)
- Grateful people less materialistic (McCullough et al, 2002)
- Gratitude mediates relationship between materialism and well-being
what 6 ways does gratitude improve Well-being?
1) Facilitates coping with stress
2) Reduces negative comparisons
3) Reduces materialistic strivings
4) Improves self esteem
5) Enhances accessibility of positive emotions
6) Builds social resources
how does memory enhance accessibility of positive emotions?
- Grateful people have positive memory bias → prime or make more accessible positive emotions
- Gratitude promotes closure of unpleasant open memories (Watkins et al, 2008)
how can gratitude build social resources
- Forms new relationships; broaden thought-action repertoires
- Strengthens existing relationships: more desirable friends and partners
Emmons & McCullough (2003) find about how people make lists
- Grateful listers more optimistic about future, in better health, spent more time exercising, more PA (mediating positive attitudes on future grateful events) than Hassles, Events or Comparison listers
- No relation to negative affects that they were experiencing → different continuums
Watkins et al (2003) found More _________ in conditions in which Ps think about, write about gratitude, or write letter to giver than in control condition
positive affect
what did Chan (2010, 2011) find when Teachers write about things they are grateful for
in Hong Kong Chinese teachers raises PA, satisfaction with life,
• Effect greatest in those with lowest measure of gratitude
- Carson et al (2010) found Mental health outpatients who kept monthly gratitude diary reported what ?
improved life satisfaction, higher social feelings (connection with others, social belongingness), greater gratitude
• Recall of gratefulness → greater sense of gratitude
what di Froh, Sefick& Emmons (2008) find in 8-16 year olds
placed in Three conditions → gratitude, hassles, and events
• Early adolescents in gratitude condition (compared with Hassles, or Events conditions) reported more gratitude, optimism, PA, life satisfaction, satisfaction with school experience at 3-week follow-up (even though not about school events → just life teachers reporting greater satisfaction with their job)
- Froh et al (2009)
found that Children, adolescents who delivered letter of gratitude (and were initially low in PA) reported more what?
more PA than events listers at 2-month follow-up
• Impact was greatest on those who were initially low in positive affect
