Gratitude

Definition

People experience gratitude when they affirm that something good has happened to them and when they recognize that someone else is largely responsible for this benefit. The source of the benefit is often (but not always) another human. The benefit prompting a grateful response may be the absence of some negative event, as well as the occurrence of a positive favor. Some of the strongest gratitude responses have been found to occur when individuals feel that something bad could have or should have happened to them but did not. Although early research in this area often equated the feelings of gratitude and indebtedness (feeling obligated to repay), recent research has shown that there are important differences between these emotions, and they probably should be seen as distinct states.

Background and Importance

Although gratitude has been a neglected topic in psychology, it appears to be one of the most important of the social emotions. Gratitude has been shown to be a highly valued social trait; people like grateful individuals and tend to disdain those they feel are ungrateful.

Gratitude has been classified as a moral emotion in that it is an emotion that promotes positive interactions among people. Gratitude may be seen as a moral emotion because it is a moral barometer (it alerts people to the fact that someone else has benefited them), a moral motivator (it encourages people to act positively toward others), and a moral reinforcer (when an individual expresses gratitude, it encourages the giver to give again in the future).

It is important to understand that gratitude can be studied as an emotional state (i.e., how grateful a person is feeling right now) and as an emotional or personality trait. Trait gratitude is the disposition toward gratitude, or how easily a person may experience grateful emotions. A person who frequently experiences grateful feelings is someone who could be characterized as a grateful person, or a person high in trait [Page 384]gratitude. A person low in trait gratitude would be a person who rarely experiences gratitude. Two questionnaires are often used to investigate the disposition toward gratitude: the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) and the Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test (the GRAT).

Gratitude Research

Research has been able to identify the situations in which a person is most likely to feel grateful. First, the person must recognize that a benefit has been given to him or her, and the more the person values the benefit, the more he or she tends to feel grateful. Second, gratitude is more likely to be experienced if the person receiving the gift feels that it was given to him or her in good will. In other words, the receiver thinks that the motives of the giver are good; the gift was given for the benefit of the receiver. If the person receiving the benefit feels that it was given for ulterior or irrelevant motives, gratitude is not likely. Similarly, if the receivers of the benefit like the giver, they are more likely to feel grateful toward their benefactor. In addition, if the gift goes beyond the receivers' expectations of the giver, the receivers tend to feel more grateful. It is for this reason that people are more likely to feel grateful toward a new acquaintance for driving them to the airport than one of their parents (because they have greater expectations of their parents). Finally, research has also shown that when a receiver of a benefit thinks that the giver expects some kind of return favor, the receiver is less likely to feel grateful.

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