research paper on science of belief and gratitude

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41 Furthering the Science of Gratitude

Philip C. Watkins, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington

Michael Van Gelder, Department of Psychology, Eastern Washington University.

Araceli Frias, Department of Psychology, Eastern Washington University.

• Published: 18 September 2012
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In this chapter, we sought to strengthen the science of gratitude. We suggest effective approaches for studying gratitude, present a theoretical framework for researching gratitude, review recent gratitude research, and suggest directions and questions for future research, all in an attempt to encourage research on this important virtue. After presenting a brief historical background of gratitude, we define state and trait gratitude and describe several useful measurement tools. We review research that has examined traits that are associated with gratitude and show that grateful individuals have many salutary traits. We then overview research strategies that have been used to investigate gratitude and pay particular attention to successful experimental manipulations of gratitude. A number of studies have investigated the advantages of gratitude. Not only is gratitude strongly associated with happiness, but experimental studies have shown that gratitude actually enhances happiness. We propose several mechanisms whereby gratitude might enhance happiness. Gratitude may support happiness through enhancing enjoyment of benefits, relationships, self-esteem, and coping ability. Grateful processing of pleasant events may also enhance the accessibility of pleasant memories. Conversely, gratitude may support happiness by inhibiting envy and preventing depression. We conclude by presenting some concerns and prospects for the future of gratitude research. Continued understanding of this important emotion and virtue will do much to advance our understanding of the critical components of the good life.

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The Divine Gift of Gratitude: The Secret of Happiness in the Modern World

Published: May 6, 2022 • Updated: July 30, 2024

Author : Roohi Tahir

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Introduction

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God… No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. 10

The origin of gratitude and the challenge to humanity

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When Allah created Adam, He breathed the soul into him, then he sneezed and said: ‘All praise [and gratitude] is due to Allah.’ So he praised Allah by His permission. Then His Lord said to him: ‘May Allah have mercy upon you, O Adam…’” 13  

We already showed them the Way, whether they choose to be grateful or ungrateful. 22

O humanity! Eat from what is lawful and good on the earth and do not follow Satan’s footsteps. He is truly your sworn enemy. He only incites you to commit evil and indecency, and to claim against Allah what you do not know. 24

Shukr  as a way of life

And Allah brought you out of the wombs of your mothers while you knew nothing, and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect so perhaps you would be thankful. 30

And He is the One Who causes the day and the night to alternate, [as a sign] for whoever desires to be mindful or to be grateful. 39

The station of gratitude gathers within it all of the stations of faith, which is why it is the highest and loftiest of them; it is above contentment, and it contains patience within it but not vice versa, and also contains reliance, oft-returning, love, meekness, humility, fear, and hope; all of these stations are within its ambit, and one cannot be labeled with it except when all of these come together in that person. This is why faith is two halves; one half is patience, the other, gratitude. And since patience is contained in gratitude, all of faith is included in gratitude, and the grateful are the fewest among the servants, as the Exalted said, ‘And few of My servants are truly grateful.’ 54

Gifts of gratitude

And Allah will reward those who are grateful. 56

And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.” 59

…Be grateful to Allah, for whoever is grateful, it is only for their own good. And whoever is ungrateful, then surely Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy. 64

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Purity is half of  iman  (faith). Alḥamdulillāh  (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah) fills the scales, and  subḥānAllāh  (how far is Allah from every imperfection) and  alḥamdulillāh  (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah) fill that which is between heaven and earth.” 69

A closer look at modernity and its impact on gratitude

And Allah sets forth the example of a society which was safe and at ease, receiving its provision in abundance from all directions. But its people met Allah’s favors with ingratitude, so Allah made them taste the clutches of hunger and fear for their misdeeds. 70

They have taken other gods, instead of Allah, seeking strength [and protection] through them, but these gods will reject their worship and will even turn against them. 81

Know that this worldly life is no more than play, amusement, luxury, mutual boasting, and competition in wealth and children. This is like rain that causes plants to grow, to the delight of the planters. But later the plants dry up and you see them wither, then they are reduced to chaff. And in the Hereafter, there will be either severe punishment or forgiveness and pleasure of Allah, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment. [So] compete with one another for forgiveness from your Lord and a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who believe in Allah and His messengers. This is the favor of Allah. He grants it to whoever He wills. And Allah is the Lord of infinite bounty. No calamity occurs on earth or in yourselves without being [written] in a Record before We bring it into being. This is certainly easy for Allah. [We let you know this] so that you neither grieve over what you have missed nor boast over what He has granted you. For Allah does not like whoever is arrogant, boastful. 83

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The likeness of this world in comparison to the Hereafter is that of anyone of you dipping his finger into the sea: let him see what he brings forth.” 88  

Daily checklist

As for those who only pay lip-service to gratitude, and do not give thanks with the rest of their faculties, are concerned, they are like a man who has a garment and all he does with it is touch it, but he does not put it on: it will never protect him from heat, cold, snow or rain. 89  

• Knowing, remembering, and calling upon Allah by His names and attributes, particularly those of His boundless divine mercy as  al-Raḥmān , wisdom as  al-Ḥakīm , generosity as  al-Karīm , love as  al-Wadūd , and appreciation as  ash-Shakūr.
• Reminding oneself that Allah’s power and wisdom are far beyond our capacity. Circumstances we encounter of hardship and evil contain good we may not perceive which will overtake any harm when we turn to Allah in faith, obedience, patience, and gratitude.
• Acts of worship such as ritual prayer, fasting, charity, and supplication inculcate  shukr  when one is mindful of their purpose and the affirmations, praise, and gratitude they embody.
• The daily prescribed remembrance of Allah  recited at specific times as taught by the Prophet ﷺ as well as frequent recitation of Qur’an, particularly with time and effort to reflect on the meaning of the verses and supplications that contain reminders of Allah’s mercy and kindness, statements of praise and gratitude, and supplications for forgiveness, guidance, protection, and provision. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The best remembrance is: there is none worthy of worship except Allah ( lā ilāha illa Allāh ) and the best supplication is: All praise and thanks are due to Allah ( alḥamdulillāh ).” 90
• Additional acts of worship the Prophet ﷺ was known to incorporate into daily life and which are mentioned specifically in regard to gratitude are the supererogatory acts of the prostration of  shukr 91   and the night prayer. 92
• The tendency to compare oneself and one’s circumstances to others is overcome by looking instead toward those who appear to have less, as the Prophet ﷺ advised us to. He ﷺ once asked his Companions, “Who amongst you is fasting today?” Abū Bakr said, “I am.” He then asked, “Who amongst you followed a funeral procession today?” Abū Bakr said, “I did.” He ﷺ again asked, “Who amongst you served food to the needy?” Abū Bakr said, “I did.” He ﷺ then asked, “Who amongst you has visited the sick today?” Abū Bakr said, “I did.” Thereupon Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “Anyone in whom these good deeds are combined will certainly enter paradise.” 93  Such acts of service enable one to experience the fulfillment of gratitude.
• Using all that Allah has blessed you with in ways to do good and to seek His pleasure is the ultimate expression of gratitude. This includes, but is not limited to, your intellect and faculties such as your eyes, ears, speech, and physical capability. Gratitude to Allah is expressed in spending your time, talents, and resources in worship of Him and service to His creation.
• Reciprocating acts of kindness is an expression of gratitude and key to nurturing relationships. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed us, “Whoever is given something should reciprocate that act if possible. If not, he should compliment the giver. The one who compliments has expressed gratitude, while he who refrains from doing so has committed  kufr  (i.e., is ungrateful).” 94  This hadith is another example of the importance placed on showing gratitude to those around us, particularly to our parents, spouses, and children, but also to those within our social and professional circles. The Prophet ﷺ said: “He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah.” 95  People in positions of service to us such as in the workplace, at school, in public, and those employed, for example, to maintain the landscape, repair, or clean are often taken for granted and neglected and are all deserving of our gratitude.
• Keep a daily journal in which to itemize things to be grateful for. As cliché as it sounds, picturing the glass half full by recalling one’s blessings does have a positive impact on gratitude. How often do we stop to think about our every working limb, joint, and faculty? Every breath we effortlessly take is the result of phenomenal machinery and the perfection of Allah and His mercy toward us—something to appreciate even more having witnessed the pandemic’s ravaging of our respiratory systems. Think about the blessings of waking up a believer, in the safety of your home, and being able to practice your religion freely. This is sadly not a situation to take for granted for so many of our brothers and sisters witnessing calamities such as illness, death, persecution, and genocide. It is our faith that equips us with the commitment, fortitude, and perspective to handle all of life’s challenges and losses, even those as devastating as these. Each new dawn brings with it the opportunity to worship Allah better and to perform that one act of sincerity which could secure our place in Paradise.
• Allah instructs His Messenger, the Prophet ﷺ and in turn, all of us to “talk about the blessings of your Lord.” 96  Allah is pleased with the believer who expresses their gratitude to Him by mentioning their blessings, as He is pleased with the effects of those blessings on His servant. A noteworthy point here is the distinction between boasting about something one has achieved or acquired and attributing that same blessing to the  generosity of Allah. Gratitude lies in the sincerity and humility with which it is mentioned and used.

O Allah! I seek refuge with You not to exchange Your favor with ingratitude, not to be ungrateful for it after I have known it [to be from You] and not to forget it or neglect praising it. -ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdul ʿAzīz 97

And whoever does good willingly, Allah is truly Appreciative, All-Knowing. 100

Disclaimer: The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in these papers and articles are strictly those of the authors. Furthermore, Yaqeen does not endorse any of the personal views of the authors on any platform. Our team is diverse on all fronts, allowing for constant, enriching dialogue that helps us produce high-quality research.

Additional resources

General Psychology

How to Overcome Addiction through Faith: Ibn Al-Qayyim's Rehabilitation Program

Faith in Mind: Islam’s Role in Mental Health

The Art of Gratitude: Qur'anic Themes on Shukr

Psychology of Wealth: An Islamic Perspective on Personal Finance

Holistic Healing: Islam’s Legacy of Mental Health

How to Overcome Addiction through Faith: Ibn Al-Qayyim's Rehabilitation Program

The Art of Gratitude: Qur'anic Themes on Shukr

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Insights and open questions from within the science of gratitude

In 2011 Fordham University sociologist Costas Panagopoulos published a study concerning three U.S. elections in which he found that voters who were sent a postcard thanking them for voting in the last election were significantly more likely to vote in the next election than were those who were sent a postcard simply encouraging them to vote. This effect was surprisingly strong, and it successfully mobilized a diverse range of voters.

Whether one finds oneself on the giving or the receiving end, there is something undeniably compelling about gratitude. Over the past decade researchers like Panagopoulos and hundreds of others have published studies looking at the nature of gratitude, how we might cultivate it, and what effects that cultivation might have.

Throughout history and around the world, religious leaders and philosophers have extolled the virtue of gratitude. Some have even described gratitude as “social glue” that fortifies relationships — between friends, family, and romantic partners — and serves as the backbone of human society.

Over the past two decades scientists have made great strides toward understanding the biological roots of gratitude, the various benefits that accompany gratitude, and the ways that people can cultivate gratitude in their day-to-day lives. The John Templeton Foundation, which has funded dozens of such studies, recently commissioned a white paper to capture the state of the science of gratitude — what it can tell us and what questions it still leaves unanswered — based on more than 270 publications.

What is gratitude and where does it come from?

Most people have an instinctive understanding of what gratitude is, but it can be surprisingly difficult to define. Is it an emotion? A virtue? A behavior? Gratitude can mean different things to different people in different contexts. However, researchers have developed some frameworks for conceptualizing gratitude so that it can be studied empirically and rigorously.

Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough , for example, define gratitude as a two-step process: 1) “recognizing that one has obtained a positive outcome” and 2) “recognizing that there is an external source for this positive outcome.” While most of these positive benefits come from other people — hence gratitude’s reputation as an “other-oriented” emotion — people can also experience gratitude toward God, fate, nature, etc.

Research suggests that gratitude is not simply a cultural construct. It has deep roots that are embedded in our biology and our evolutionary history. Animals as diverse as fish, birds, and vampire bats engage in “reciprocal altruism” — behaviors in which they repay good deeds done to them by others. Many scientists see this activity and the desire from which it springs as an expression of gratitude, and some scientists have suggested that gratitude may have evolved as a mechanism to drive this reciprocal altruism.

Support for the idea that gratitude may have arisen as an evolutionary adaptation comes in part from research on primates. Studies have found that chimpanzees are more likely to share food with a chimpanzee that had groomed them earlier in the day and are more likely to help another chimpanzee with a task if that chimpanzee had helped them in the past.

Meanwhile, neuroscientists have identified brain areas that are likely involved in experiencing and expressing gratitude (one found that people who more readily experience gratitude have more gray matter in an area of the right inferior temporal cortex). A few studies have identified specific genes that may underlie our ability to experience gratitude, and sets of identical twins have shown higher correlation of self-reported gratitude than fraternal twins have — suggesting a genetic component to gratitude.

Recent studies have also begun exploring the developmental roots of gratitude. This work suggests that even fairly young children have some concept of gratitude that develops as they mature.

Science of gratitude: Individual factors

There are a number of cognitive factors that can influence how much gratitude a person feels in a certain situation. These include the perceived intentions of the benefactor, the apparent cost to the benefactor, the perceived value of the gift to the recipient and whether the gift was provided by choice.

Several studies have found that girls and women report feeling more grateful than boys and men, possibly because boys and men — at least in the United States — are more likely to associate gratitude with weakness or indebtedness.

Other studies have identified certain traits, including envy, narcissism, and cynicism, that act as barriers to gratitude. One study hypothesized that, since it’s difficult for people to be grateful and envious at the same time, the lower life satisfaction seen among materialistic people could be explained by the fact that they reported lower levels of gratitude. Another recent study of undergraduate students found that self-reported levels of narcissism at the beginning of the study were significantly negatively associated with gratitude levels two months later, perhaps because, the researchers wrote, “Individuals high in narcissism may not even notice that a gift has been conferred because they believe they are entitled to the benefit.”

Social and cultural factors

Multiple studies have found associations between elements of religiosity and dispositional gratitude, suggesting that there may be a link between the two. One study found that people assigned to pray for their partner, or pray in general, for four weeks reported higher gratitude at the end of the study than people who were assigned to think about their daily activities or to think positive thoughts about their partner. In contrast to prayer, simply priming people to think about religious concepts did not increase their gratitude or generosity.

In attempting to understand the ways that culture may influence people’s experiences of gratitude, researchers discovered that men in the United States reported experiencing gratitude less frequently than those in Germany, and one-third of the American men said they preferred to hide gratitude, while none of their German counterparts did. Part of the difference in cultural approaches to gratitude may be the different cultural emphases concerning related negative emotions like guilt and indebtedness.

A few studies have looked at how parents might influence their children’s experience of gratitude. For example, a study of fourth and fifth grade students and their biological parents found a small but statistically significant relationship between the self-reported gratitude of the children and their mothers (although not between the children and their fathers). Another study explored why more grateful parents might have more grateful children, finding that more dispositionally grateful parents were more likely to place their children in situations that might evoke feelings of gratitude, such as volunteering for people in need.

Science of gratitude: Individual benefits

Gratitude has been shown to be correlated with many other positive physical and psychological outcomes, though causation is often much more difficult to verify. Still, a handful of studies suggest that more grateful people may be healthier, and others suggest that scientifically designed practices to increase gratitude can also improve health and encourage the adoption of healthier habits.

Gratitude may also benefit people with various medical and psychological challenges. For example, one study found that more grateful cardiac patients reported better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of cellular inflammation, while another found that heart failure patients who kept a gratitude journal for eight weeks were more grateful and had reduced signs of inflammation afterwards. Several studies have found that more grateful people experience less depression and are more resilient following traumatic events.

Multiple studies have also found that people with higher levels of dispositional gratitude have signs of better psychological health, including higher levels of perceived social support and lower levels of stress, depression, and anxiety.

Since evidence links gratitude to a host of psychological benefits, it stands to reason that activities encouraging people to feel more grateful might produce similar benefits. Many studies have explored this possibility. In one study, people who wrote about their blessings weekly for 10 weeks reported feeling more optimistic about the following week; they also felt better about their overall lives than did participants who wrote about daily hassles or ordinary events in their lives. In another study, people who wrote down three things that went well, and identified the causes of those good things, reported increased happiness six months after the week-long intervention. 

In recent years, studies have found that more grateful adolescents are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, are more kind and helpful, and are more socially integrated. A few studies have shown that gratitude journaling in the classroom can improve students’ mood and that a curriculum designed to help students appreciate the benefits they have gained from others can successfully teach children to think more gratefully and to exhibit more grateful behavior (such as writing more thank you notes to their school’s PTA).

That said, not all studies have replicated the positive benefits from gratitude journaling. In one case students asked to count their blessings just once a week reported improvements in well-being, while those asked to do it three times a week actually experienced a decrease in well-being (as did a control group).

Social benefits

Research in the science of gratitude supports what some researchers refer to as its “find, remind, and bind” functions: By attuning people to the thoughtfulness of others, gratitude helps them “find” people who are good candidates for quality future relationships; it also helps “remind” people of the goodness of their existing relationships; and it “binds” them to their partners and friends by making them feel appreciated and encouraging them to engage in behaviors that will help prolong their relationships. For example, one study found that participants who were thanked for helping a student on an assignment were more interested in affiliating with that student in the future; another study found that partners who had a series of conversations expressing gratitude to their partner reported more improvements in their personal well-being and in the well-being of their relationship than did partners who had conversations disclosing something personal about themselves.

A handful of studies suggest that gratitude may help employees perform their jobs more effectively, feel more satisfied at work, and act more helpfully and respectfully toward their coworkers.

Science of Gratitude: Interventions

From journaling to giving thanks verbally in person, a growing number of studies have tested the efficacy of various interventions designed to boost gratitude. The results of many of these studies are positive — but they spur the further question of what kind of people are more likely to engage with, and benefit from, certain gratitude interventions.

Some studies have identified factors that influence whether people are willing to adopt and complete these interventions. For example, people who are naturally more curious are more likely to give gratitude interventions a try. Other research suggests that some people may be more likely to benefit from gratitude interventions than others. For example, one study found that less-neurotic people reported increased happiness a week after completing a gratitude intervention, while more neurotic participants did not.

A series of meta-analysis have attempted to determine the efficacy of gratitude interventions, and most have concluded that gratitude interventions do appear to significantly increase happiness, well-being, and positive mood. However, the impact of these interventions on many other outcomes is less clear.

Future directions

The Roman politician and orator Cicero famously called gratitude “not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all the others.” Since research on the science of gratitude is relatively new, there are still many open questions left to explore as researchers seek to understand gratitude’s qualities and the ways in which other virtues or positive outcomes might flow from it. A few studies have also contemplated the potential dark sides of gratitude, such as the ways that perceived expectations of gratitude can feel burdensome for people with disabilities, or that encouraging more gratitude could be used as a band-aid to cover up unaddressed deeper problems ranging from relational dysfunction to socioeconomic inequality. Future research should help to further define and categorize different types of gratitude experiences, determining why some interventions work for some people but not others, and identifying how best to use gratitude interventions in the home, classroom, and the workplace.

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• v.63(1); Jan-Dec 2021

Effects of gratitude intervention on mental health and well‐being among workers: A systematic review

1 Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Japan

2 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo Japan

Kazuhiro Watanabe

3 Department of Public Health, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara Japan

Daisuke Hori

4 Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Japan

Kyosuke Nozawa

5 Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Graduate school of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Japan

Kotaro Imamura

Norito kawakami, associated data.

Data sharing not applicable—no new data generated.

Gratitude intervention, which requires participants to engage regularly in brief activities designed to cultivate a sense of gratefulness, is known as one of the most effective positive psychological interventions. Although numerous meta‐analyses and systematic reviews have been conducted on gratitude intervention, no studies have focused on the working population. This study aimed to systematically summarize the effectiveness of gratitude interventions on workers' mental health and well‐being.

Systematic search was conducted in February 2021 using five databases. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials implementing gratitude activities among healthy workers and measuring mental health or well‐being indicators and original articles or thesis in English.

Nine out of 1957 articles met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies adopted gratitude list interventions, showing a significant improvement in perceived stress and depression; however, the effects on well‐being were inconsistent. Interventions with gratitude list four times or less did not report significant changes in any outcomes.

Conclusions

Most gratitude interventions incorporated a gratitude list, and some studies included gratitude activities as a part of the combined program. On the other hand, no studies focused on only behavioral gratitude expression among workers. Gratitude interventions might be effective in improving mental health, but their effects on well‐being remain unclear. The total number of gratitude lists and reflections might influence the effect on mental health and well‐being; however, due to the high heterogeneity of the studies, further studies are needed.

1. INTRODUCTION

Positive psychology has spent the past two decades investigating human strengths and virtues, solidifying the “science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions”. 1 Since its inception, positive psychology has influenced various disciplines, including education, health care, and economics. 2 , 3 Positive psychology interventions have accumulated evidence of their effects on mental health and well‐being. 4 In recent years, positive psychology interventions have also been introduced in the occupational health field. A meta‐analysis conducted in 2019 has demonstrated their effectiveness in improving work‐related outcomes, including job stress, engagement, and organizational prosocial behavior. 5 Gratitude emerged from the study of positive psychology as a multidimensional concept involving an emotion, a personality trait, or a coping response. 6 Especially in the academic context, much research has been done on the two concepts of gratitude: trait gratitude and state gratitude. 7 Trait gratitude refers to the predisposition to be aware of situations in which one receives benefits from others and represents between‐person differences in the threshold to experience gratitude without specific events/experiences. 8 Separately, gratitude as a state‐level emotion is a discrete experience that occurs when one perceives themselves as the recipient of a positive outcome, triggering a subsequent desire to reciprocate or otherwise engage in prosocial behavior. 9 , 10 Several studies have found an association between trait gratitude and more frequent and intense state gratitude experiences. 11 , 12 Many studies have demonstrated the positive moderate to large associations between gratitude and well‐being, such as positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction. 7 , 13 , 14 Regarding these mechanisms, Wood et al. introduced two gratitude specific hypotheses, 7 (a) the schematic hypothesis (grateful people have characteristic schemas that influence their interpretation of situations more positively) and (b) the coping hypothesis (grateful people make more positive coping appraisals, and less likely to behaviorally disengage, deny the problem exists) along with two more general hypotheses, (c) the positive effect hypothesis (positive emotions, including gratitude, have a protective effect on various mental disorders, leading to improved well‐being) and (d) the broaden and build hypothesis (positive affective states broaden people's momentary thought‐action repertoires to help them develop additional resources to enhance long‐term well‐being).

Two strategies, called gratitude interventions, have been generally used to promote gratitude. 15 One is a gratitude list (gratitude journal), which involves the participants making written lists of several things for which one is grateful regularly. 7 Another strategy, a behavioral expression of gratitude, 7 encourages the participants to express their grateful feelings to others. 7 The most cited behavioral expression conducted by Seligman is called gratitude letter, in which participants write gratitude letters to their benefactors and read the letters to them. 16 These interventions aim to increase state gratitude through activities; however, because state gratitude is a short‐term phenomenon that is difficult to assess, trait gratitude is often measured as an outcome. Gratitude interventions have several strengths. The objectives of the exercises are easy to understand and implement, as they are time and cost‐effective, tend to have lower dropout rates, and do not require experts in psychology. 15 , 17 The previous meta‐analyses and systematic reviews have indicated positive effects of gratitude intervention on well‐being (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness, and positive affect), 15 , 17 physical health (e.g., blood pressure, glycemic control, and inflammatory markers), 18 , 19 and mental health (e.g., depression and anxiety) 20 , 21 among various populations, including clinical, resident, and school.

Gratitude is also important for workers. A gratitude trait at work is defined as the tendency to recognize and be thankful for how various aspects of a job affect one's life. 22 Worker's gratitude has a significant favorable correlation with well‐being (e.g., positive affect and life/job satisfaction), mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms and distress), and work‐related outcomes (e.g., job performance, organizational commitment, and citizenship behavior). 22 , 23 Furthermore, a meta‐analysis of positive psychology interventions among workers indicated that employee gratitude interventions for desirable work outcomes were shown to have stronger mean effect sizes (g = 0.34) compared to other interventions, such as psychological capital interventions or well‐being interventions, even though the differences between them were non‐significant. 5 Although numerous meta‐analyses and systematic reviews have been conducted on gratitude intervention, 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 no studies have focused on the working population. Furthermore, since positive psychology and gratitude interventions at work have been suggested to be effective for mental health, well‐being, and work‐related outcomes, 5 it would be worthwhile to qualitatively summarize the intervention methods and their effectiveness. In addition, gratitude intervention among workers may have characteristics varying from other populations. For example, workplace mindfulness training programs often differ from the standard protocols supported by scientific evidence. 24 , 25 These variations include reduced time commitment (or dose) of training and the use of flexible delivery methods to meet the demands of contemporary work environments. 26 Similarly, gratitude intervention among workers might be tailored due to their limited time to devote to the working tasks. According to the review of 64 gratitude intervention studies, 18 the most common intervention durations were 4 and 6 weeks, with some of them lasting from four to eight months. On the other hand, the gratitude intervention among workers conducted by Neumeier et al. lasted a week, arguing the importance of that it could be easily combined with various work schedules and could be flexibly integrated into daily work routines with relatively little effort. 27 The findings relevant to the working population would be meaningful for developing and validating further gratitude intervention.

The current study aimed to systematically summarize randomized controlled trials to examine the effect of gratitude interventions on improving mental health and well‐being among workers. We searched the latest studies published until February 2021 to qualitatively summarize (1) the types of gratitude interventions conducted among workers, (2) the effectiveness of gratitude interventions in improving mental health and well‐being among workers, and (3) conditions and settings that are effective for improving mental health and well‐being among workers.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. study design.

The present study is a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to provide a qualitative summary of gratitude interventions implemented among workers and examine their effects on mental health and well‐being. This manuscript was written following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. 28 The study protocol was registered at the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (ID = UMIN000039785).

2.2. Eligibility criteria

Participants, interventions, comparisons, and outcomes (PICO) of the eligible studies were defined. Participants included all healthy workers. Interventions were defined as any interventions that included gratitude activities. Based on previous meta‐analyses, 15 , 17 we categorized gratitude interventions into three types, gratitude list, behavioral gratitude expression, and others (such as drawing a picture of something one is thankful for or taking psychoeducation). Three good things (TGT) exercise was also included as a gratitude list intervention, consistent with previous studies. 15 , 17 TGT exercise is similar to making the gratitude list, except that the participants are instructed to write down three good things that happened in a specified period. 16 This is known as an activity to induce gratitude. 29 Although the previous meta‐analyses excluded the mixed intervention that also contained other activities besides gratitude, 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 we broadly included these programs because we thought that including both would provide more practical knowledge. In this study, we defined mixed intervention as a program that contains gratitude and other activities and defined plain interventions as programs containing only gratitude activities. Comparison groups of the review were those conducted other activities or measurements only. Outcomes were mental health and well‐being indicators. In this study, mental health included anxiety, perceived stress, depression, and mental disabilities, such as burnout measured using standardized psychological symptom measures. Regarding well‐being, we included outcomes along with the definitions by Steptoe et al. 30 Steptoe classified well‐being into three aspects, evaluative (how satisfied people are with their lives, such as job satisfaction and life satisfaction), hedonic (feeling or moods such as happiness or positive affect), and eudemonic (judgment about the meaning and purpose of life). In addition, eligible studies were (1) RCTs (adopting random assignment), (2) written in English, and (3) original articles or thesis.

2.3. Search and information sources

A systematic search was conducted in February 2021 using PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and Web of science. The first author (YK) developed search terms based on the previous studies, 15 , 17 , 31 , 32 , 33 and subsequently, coauthors discussed these terms and agreed with them. The search terms used were (1) keywords related to gratitude (e.g., gratitude, grateful, thankful, blessing), (2) participants (e.g., worker, employee, organization), and (3) study design (e.g., randomized controlled trial). The search terms are described in detail in Table  1 .

Search terms used in each database

2.4. Study selection

We entered all identified studies in a Microsoft ® Excel (Washington, USA) file. After YK excluded duplicate records, the remaining articles were distributed among the three authors (YH, MI, and KN), who independently in pairs assessed the title and abstract of each article to identify eligible studies according to the eligibility criteria (sifting phase). At this phase, we excluded studies that did not meet the eligibility criteria. In the next phase, a full‐text review was conducted. The pairs of investigators independently reviewed the full texts that passed the previous shifting phase. When the pairs of investigators disagreed then all investigators discussed and solved disagreements. The reasons for excluding studies were recorded during the full‐text review phase.

2.5. Data collection process and data items

Three investigators (YK, MI, and DH) independently extracted information from each included study. The year of publication, country, study design, the characteristics of the participants, response rate at baseline, follow‐up period after the intervention, follow‐up/dropout rate of the survey, the details of the gratitude intervention, the experimental and control conditions, outcomes, and the results of the mental health and well‐being were extracted. After extraction, all authors confirmed the collected information to reach a consensus in this process.

2.6. Risk of bias in individual studies

Three investigators (YK, MI, and DH) assessed the included study quality independently using the revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2), 34 which evaluates randomized controlled study based on nine items: (1) random sequence generation, (2) allocation concealment, (3) blinding of participants and personnel, (4) blinding of providers, (5) blinding of outcome assessment, (6) blinding of data analysis, (7) incomplete outcome data, (8) selective reporting, and (9) other biases (e.g., cross over bias). Each item was then graded as high, some concerns, or low. Any discrepancies were settled by discussion among the investigators.

2.7. Synthesis of results

The data extracted from the included studies were summarized qualitatively. Based on the previous study, 17 gratitude interventions were categorized into three types, gratitude list, behavioral expression of gratitude, and others. Gratitude intervention types were also categorized into two types, plain and mixed. The importance of considering the control conditions has been argued to rigorously discuss the effectiveness of the gratitude intervention. 7 We categorized the control groups into three groups, positive, negative, and neutral, according to the previous study. 15 Positive activities included performing random acts of kindness and identifying strengths, which were presumed to affect mental health and well‐being. Negative activities included listing daily/weekly hassles or misfortunes, which were presumed to affect the outcomes negatively. Neutral activities included listing daily/weekly activities, events, or measures‐only control, which were presumed to be psychologically inert. The consequences of the interventions were classified into three categories: significantly favorable effects (+), significant adverse effects (−), and insignificant effects (n.s.).

3.1. Study selection

Our initial search of five databases resulted in 1957 articles overall. After removing duplicates and adding four articles using a hand search, 1470 articles proceeded to the sifting phase. Among these, 1443 articles were excluded, and 27 articles proceeded to full‐text review. Following this process, nine articles were included in the qualitative review (Figure  1 ).

PRISMA flow diagram

3.2. Study characteristics

The characteristics of the included studies are summarized in Table  2 . Four gratitude intervention studies were conducted in the US 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 and three in China. 39 , 40 , 41 One study was conducted in Japan 42 and one in Australia. 27 The participants included in the study were mostly health care professionals ( n  = 2) 39 , 41 or teachers ( n  = 2). 37 , 40 Four studies conducted a follow‐up survey after one week, 35 one month, 36 , 42 and three months after the interventions, 41 and the other five studies conducted a follow‐up survey immediately after the intervention. 27 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 Regarding the response rate to the baseline survey (proportion of people who agreed to participate in the study out of the total number of people asked to participate), two studies had response rates above 80%, 39 , 41 and seven other studies did not report this. The follow‐up rates ranged from 50% to 97%. The completion rate of the intervention was not summarized in any studies.

Design and settings of the studies included in the systematic reviews: N  = 9

Abbreviations: NR, Not reported; RCT, Randomized controlled trial.

3.3. Intervention strategies

Table  3 shows the summary of intervention methods and their effect on outcomes. Nine interventions reported in eight studies adopted gratitude list, 27 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 while one study conducted psychoeducational group sessions. 37 No studies conducted incorporated only behavioral gratitude expression among workers. In studies using gratitude lists, six of eight studies asked participants to record "work‐related gratitude". 27 , 35 , 36 , 39 , 41 , 42 Five studies were web‐based, 27 , 35 , 36 , 39 , 40 two studies were paper‐based, 41 , 42 and in the remaining studies, the participants could choose one of the two. 38 Ki incorporated a web‐based gratitude list to 161 health care workers, including nurses, doctors, physical therapists, and occupational therapists, in China. 39 Participants were asked to write down gratitude lists twice a week for 4 weeks, totaling eight lists. A negative activity was offered to the control group, which asked the participants to write down at least one hassle event at work.

Interventions, outcomes, and results of the studies included in the systematic reviews: N  = 9

+, significant favorable effects; −, significant adverse effects; n.s., non‐significant effect; NA, not applicable.

The difference between gratitude interventions between study ID 5A and 5B in general/Work‐related subjective well‐being was non‐significant.

Summary of the scales and other information. CAS, Chinese Affect Scale 65 ; CES‐D 10, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale 67 , 68 ; JAWS, Job‐Related Affective Well‐being Scale 72 ; JIG, Job In General scale 70 ; MBI‐GS, Maslach Burnout Inventory 74 ; NA, Negative affect; PA, Positive affect; PANAS, Positive and negative affect schedule 69 ; PSS, Perceived Stress Scale 64 ; SHS, Subjective Happiness Scale 71 ; SWLS, Satisfaction with Life Scale 66 ; SWWS, Satisfaction with Work Scale. 73

Baker incorporated a web‐based gratitude list to 163 employees recruited from a public university in the US. 35 Participants were asked to wire four gratitude lists related to their job once a week for 4 weeks. The study adopted a neutral control group that measured the outcomes only.

Otsuka et al. incorporated a paper‐based gratitude list to 38 employees in a local government in Japan. 42 Participants were asked to write four gratitude lists once a week for 4 weeks. They listed five people at work or in one's personal life to whom the participant was grateful during the past week. The study set a neutral comparison that asked the participants to write up to five events at work or in one's personal life during the past week in a journal for 4 weeks.

Chan et al. incorporated a web‐based gratitude lists to 78 schoolteachers receiving in‐service training for postgraduate degrees in China. 40 The author disseminated that this is an eight‐week self‐improvement project to enhance their well‐being through self‐reflection. Participants were asked to write three good things or events that happened to the participants once a week for 8 weeks. They also had at least 15 min to think about the meanings of these events at the end of the week. The control group was offered a negative activity that asked the participants to write down three bad things or events that happened to the participants and think about these events' meanings.

Kaplan et al. incorporated a web‐based gratitude list to 112 staff members from two large public universities in the US. 36 The participants were told that the purpose of the study was to explore avenues to increase well‐being at work. Participants were asked to create six gratitude lists, recording grateful things related to their job three times a week for 2 weeks. The control group completed a positive activity that asked the participants to engage in specific strategies to increase their social ties at work three times per week and document those experiences on a secure Web site.

Cheng et al. incorporated a paper‐based gratitude list to 102 health care workers, including physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists recruited in five hospitals in China. 41 Participants were asked to create eight lists by writing diaries about work‐related thankful events twice a week for 4 weeks. Two control groups were included. One group completed a negative activity, writing diaries about work‐related hassle events (Control A), while the neutral comparison group completed only the measurements (Control B).

Neumeier et al. incorporated a web‐based gratitude list to 303 participants recruited via social media, newspapers, and radio in Australia 27 and assigned to three groups (plan gratitude group, mixed gratitude group, and neutral control group). In the plan gratitude group, participants were asked to create seven lists by writing down grateful things about work or the workplace. Subsequently, they reflected on the grateful events during the following 7 days at work. In the mixed gratitude group, participants were asked to complete seven positive exercises during the consecutive 7 days at work: "practicing gratitude” (the same exercise the plain gratitude group), "savoring the moment” (mindfully savoring a pleasurable activity by paying attention to your immediate experience), “you at your best” (writing a story about a time when you were at your best at work and reflecting on your personal strengths displayed in the story), “random acts of kindness” (performing three acts of kindness in your workplace to benefit others or make others happy), “visualizing your best possible self” (thinking and writing about your best possible professional self/working life and defining specific goal that would help you to attain this best possible future scenario), “wearing a smile” (relaxing, finding something that makes you laugh, and frequently wearing a smile over the day), and “brainstorming meaningfulness” (brainstorming about tasks or elements in your work that you find meaningful or that are significant to you, and creating a mind map about sources of meaningful experiences in your job). The participants in the control group completed only the measurements.

Cook et al. conducted psychoeducation that included gratitude activities in group sessions. 37 The participants were 44 high and middle school teachers from a single educational service district in the US. They completed five 2.5‐h group sessions. The program was developed as an intervention promoting the well‐being of teachers, helping them become resilient educators by focusing on eight practice areas: (1) increasing awareness and empowerment through mindfulness‐based practices, (2) paying attention to the positive and practicing gratitude, (3) helping and doing good deeds for others, (4) identifying unhelpful thoughts and altering them to be more helpful, (5) developing good sleep habits, exercising regularly, and eating well, (6) clarifying values and committing to them, (7) establishing good social support, role models, and a mentor (relationships), and (8) rewarding oneself through relaxation and recreation. Practicing gratitude requires three specific activities: (1) writing and delivering a gratitude letter, (2) weekly gratitude journaling that identifies 3–5 things one is grateful for and why, in addition to imagining what the week would be like if the things did not happen, and (3) paying attention to the small things and writing thank you notes to life (e.g., thankful for being able to take a warm shower and getting clean because it makes me feel better; thankful for being able to take walks and having time to think and getting healthy all at once). The control group underwent five neutral 2.5‐h group sessions to discuss topics related to their daily work.

In a more recent study, Ligon incorporated gratitude list to 148 mental health and customer service call centers in the US. 38 It was both allowed to make gratitude list by paper‐based or web‐based. The participants were told that the purpose of the study was to examine whether three different work activities effectively reduce stress and increase hope, positive thinking, mental toughness, and confidence. The study lasted for 2 weeks, and the participants were asked to create two gratitude lists, one for each week, spending 10 min each week on the day of their choice to write about three lifetime events for which they were grateful. The comparison groups completed two other activities. In the positive activity group, the participants wrote about one's best possible future self once a week for 2 weeks. In the neutral group, they wrote about typical daily work activities once a week for 2 weeks.

3.4. Effects of the intervention programs on the outcomes

The included study adopted various mental health and well‐being outcomes. Mental health included perceived stress ( n  = 3), 37 , 39 , 41 depression ( n  = 2) 39 , 41 and burnout ( n  = 1). 38 Well‐being encompassed positive affect ( n  = 5), 35 , 36 , 39 , 40 , 42 negative affect ( n  = 4), 35 , 36 , 39 , 40 life satisfaction ( n  = 4), 35 , 39 , 40 , 42 job satisfaction ( n  = 2), 35 , 37 happiness ( n  = 2), 27 , 42 and happiness at work ( n  = 1). 27 Perceived stress and depression improved significantly in all three studies, 37 , 39 , 41 while burnout did not. 38 Furthermore, positive affect increased significantly in two studies 36 , 39 but did not change in three studies. 35 , 40 , 42 Negative affect declined significantly in two studies 39 , 40 but did not change in two studies. 35 , 36 Life satisfaction increased significantly in one study 39 but not in three studies. 35 , 40 , 42 Job satisfaction significantly increased in one study 37 but did not change in another study. 35 Happiness and happiness at work increased significantly in Neumeier et al. 27 but not in Otsuka et al. 42 No significant adverse effects were observed.

3.5. Effects of the gratitude list by duration and frequency of the programs

In the studies that adopted gratitude list as the intervention, 27 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 the number of gratitude lists ranged from two to eight. The frequency with which the participants wrote gratitude lists ranged from once a week to every seven workdays. The duration of the interventions ranged from 7 days to 8 weeks. The most commonly adopted intervention duration was 4 weeks. 39 , 41 , 42 The studies that did not report significant changes on any outcomes required the participants to complete gratitude lists four times or less during intervention. 35 , 38 , 42 The other studies reported significant improvement on at least one of the outcomes. 27 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 41

3.6. Effects of the intervention by types of control groups (positive, negative, and neutral)

One of the included studies offered positive activities to the control group to increase their social ties at work and yielded inconsistent results on well‐being (significant for positive affect and insignificant for negative affect). 36 Neumeier et al. compared plain gratitude intervention and mixed gratitude intervention with no significant differences in well‐being (happiness and happiness at work). 27 In the study conducted by Ligon, although the positive intervention was provided, the intervention effect was not compared with the gratitude intervention group. 38 Three of the included studies offered negative activities that asked participants to regularly write down hassle or bad events. 39 , 40 , 41 The setting of these control groups was consistent with the most cited gratitude intervention study implemented by Emmons et al. 6 The studies showed significant improvement in mental health (perceived stress and depression) and inconsistent results for well‐being. Specifically, Ki showed a significant increase in positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction 39 Chan et al. showed no effects on positive affect and life satisfaction and reported a significant decrease in negative affect, 40 while Cheng et al. showed a significant decrease in depression and perceived stress. 41 However, the effectiveness may have been exaggerated because gratitude's benefits, adverse effects of negativity, or both might have maximized the observed differences. 15

Six studies adopted neutral control. 27 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 41 , 42 In one neutral condition, the participants were asked to write down events that occurred at work or in one's personal life regularly or to participate in group sessions to discuss topics related to their daily work, while the other neutral condition included only the measurement. These two studies showed significant improvement in perceived stress and depression 37 , 41 and non‐significant improvement in burnout 38 while the results on well‐being were inconsistent. Two studies reported insignificant changes, 35 , 42 and two studies reported a significant increase in job satisfaction, 37 happiness, and happiness at work. 27

3.7. Risk of bias within studies

Table  4 summarizes the risk of bias assessed using the revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2). 34 Cheng et al. 41 rated random sequence generation, allocation concealment, and incomplete outcome data as low risk and selective reporting as some concerns. In the study by Ligon, 38 selective reporting was rated as low risk, while random sequence generation was rated as some concerns. All other domains of the studies were rated as high risk, resulting in all nine studies being rated as high risk of bias overall.

Risk of bias, assessed by the revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2): N  = 9

4. DISCUSSION

This study systematically reviewed gratitude intervention studies on mental health and well‐being among workers. Many studies were conducted with health care professionals and teachers, while only a few studies were conducted with general workers. Most gratitude interventions were incorporated a gratitude list. No studies focused on only behavioral gratitude expression among workers. Although the studies consistently showed significant improvement in perceived stress and depression, effects on well‐being were inconsistent. The studies that did not report any significant changes in the outcomes instructed the participants to create four gratitude lists or less during the intervention. The other studies reported significant improvement in at least one of the outcomes. The most frequently adopted intervention duration was 4 weeks, consistent with the previous meta‐analysis. 18 Three out of nine studies included negative activity groups, such as recording bad events, as a comparison. Compared to other populations, no distinct differences in the frequency or duration of the interventions were observed, although the characteristics of the recorded objects differed, with most studies asking the participants to record "work‐related" gratitude. This study updated the evidence of gratitude interventions by adding three studies 27 , 37 , 38 that were never included in the previous review studies.

4.1. What kind of gratitude interventions were conducted among workers?

Consistent with the previous meta‐analysis, 17 gratitude list was the most common strategy adopted with workers, seen in eight of nine studies. This is known as the classic and basic gratitude intervention. 6 This approach may be suitable even for busy workers because it is easy to understand and complete, without much time or special materials. 15 It was observed in both cases that less frequently completed gratitude list over a longer period (once a week for 8 weeks) 40 and more frequently completed gratitude list over a shorter period (daily for a week). 27 The follow‐up rate for each was over 70%, indicating that both methods are acceptable for workers.

On the other hand, behavioral gratitude expression was only included as part of a combined positive psychological program, 37 there were no studies that incorporated behavioral gratitude expression only. This may be attributed to the difficulty of implementing it. The previous study found that college students felt less adept at writing a gratitude letter compared to keeping a gratitude list, which in turn predicted lower rates of completing the activities. 43 Similarly, workers may hesitate to participate in gratitude intervention, including expressing their grateful feelings to others. However, a previous study utilizing the RCT design reported that outcomes were significantly improved in the group that combined gratitude list and behavioral gratitude expression compared to the group that completed only the gratitude list. 44 To introduce behavioral gratitude expressions to workers, it may be necessary to provide a practice guide for conducting the activity. Cook et al. provided instructions to include a specific person to give the gratitude letter to, concrete steps for writing, the approximate number of words (~300 words), and steps for delivering the letter. 37 Among workers, gratitude activities were often incorporated on a stand‐alone basis, but a few studies included them as part of a combined intervention, showing a high degree of adaptability in implementation methods.

4.2. Do gratitude interventions effectively improve mental health and well‐being among workers?

Gratitude interventions for workers might effectively improve perceived stress and depression; however, the effects on well‐being might be unclear. The effects of depressive symptoms on mental health outcomes were consistent with a meta‐analysis conducted by Cregg et al. among the general population. 21 Three possible mechanisms have been discussed. First, gratitude was associated with interpreting various stimuli and life events in positive terms, which is inconsistent with the selective attention to negative qualities of the self, the world, and the future that characterize depression and anxiety. 45 , 46 Second, it was argued that a less critical, less punishing, and more compassionate view of oneself account for the inverse relationship between gratitude and symptoms of depression and anxiety. 47 Finally, researchers have also found an association of gratitude with greater relationship connection and satisfaction, 48 well‐established buffers against psychopathology. 49 The basis of these mechanisms (interpretation of events, views of oneself, relationship connections, and satisfaction) is also closely related to workers, leading to consistent results. On the other hand, the effect of the gratitude intervention on burnout was not consistent with a previous pre‐post single‐arm study among workers (teachers). 50 It was argued that the symptoms of burnout would be reduced when they experience professional growth, self‐efficacy, and perceived success in their career progression. 51 More research is needed to conclude the effect of gratitude intervention on burnout.

Regarding well‐being, contrary to previous meta‐analyses, 15 , 17 inconsistent results were obtained. The most critical reason would be the high heterogeneity of intervention methods. The intervention effects on well‐being tended to depend on the intervention method rather than on the kind of well‐being indicators. In other words, effective studies showed improvements in multiple measured outcomes, while less effective studies failed to show any significant effects. To consider the effects of gratitude intervention on well‐being among workers, it is necessary to pay attention to whether effective conditions and settings are adopted, in addition to taking care of the control group (assigned activities are positive or negative, or neutral), as pointed out in the previous study. 7 The existing studies introduced various theories to explain the mechanism underlying the relationship between gratitude intervention and mental health or well‐being outcomes. For example, Ki, Baker et al, and Neumeier et al. cited the Broaden and Build Theory. 27 , 35 , 39 , 52 Additionally, Cheng et al. proposed the coping hypothesis, 41 while Kaplan et al. explained applied the model of happiness (happiness is a function of three major factors: life circumstances, temperament/disposition, and positive cognitive or behavioral activities). 36 , 53 Since the gratitude intervention can affect multiple dimensions, including cognition, mood, behavioral tendencies, coping, traits such as prosociality, and relationships with others, 7 , 17 , 32 several mechanisms may have a combined effect among workers as well.

4.3. What conditions and settings effectively improve mental health and well‐being among workers?

A key moderator of positive psychology interventions is the number of times a participant engages in an activity. 17 , 54 For example, in prior work in positive psychology, more time spent working on forgiveness activities resulted in larger effect sizes for forgiveness. 55 From this perspective, the total number of gratitude lists might affect outcomes among workers differently. Studies that recorded gratitude lists six times or more showed significant effects at least on one outcome, 27 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 41 while studies that recorded gratitude four times or fewer did not show significant results on any outcomes. 35 , 38 , 42 This can be explained by the schematic hypothesis of gratitude introduced by Wood et al. as the mechanism underlying the relationship between gratitude and well‐being. 7 The hypothesis suggests that grateful people go around in life with a particular interpretive lens, seeing help as more costly, valuable, and altruistic. Equally, ungrateful people view the help they see as lower on these dimensions. According to the Network Theory of Emotion, 56 , 57 emotional schemas develop linearly through repeated pairings of stimuli and emotions. 58 The schema hypothesis of gratitude has also been supported in an occupational context. 59 Thus, for a grateful schema, "repeated stimulation" would be necessary. Accordingly, less than four activities would not suffice. Whether the intervention duration is one week 27 or 8 weeks 40 or whether the frequency is high (daily) or low (once a week) does not seem to affect the formation of schemas, as long as the total number of gratitude activities are sufficient.

Considering differences in intervention content, six out of eight gratitude list studies asked participants to record "work‐related gratitude" while the remaining studies did not. In this study, the effect of these differences on mental health and well‐being has been inconsistent. However, whether the gratitude is work‐related might affect its effects. The gratitude list can also function as a reframing, specifically, positive reappraisal. 60 Therefore, it may be desirable to promote positive reappraisal in the work domain, especially when targeting work‐related outcomes. In a study conducted by Ligon, where gratitude lists were not "work‐related" but "life‐related," no significant improvement in burnout was found. 38 In the future, it will be important to investigate the relationship between the content of the gratitude recorded and the outcome. As another point in the gratitude list studies, both paper‐based and web‐based interventions were present, but it was seemed to be inconsistent differences in effectiveness by intervention medium. This is in line with the previous study that found no significant difference in performance between paper‐based and web‐based homework assignments among students. 61 It would be desirable to choose a medium depending on employees’ work style to reduce the burden on workers. 35 Two studies required the participants to reflect on and keep gratitude lists, and both showed improvement in one or more of the outcomes. 27 , 40 Reflecting on the gratitude list may enhance the intervention effect by "savoring." Savoring is a construct in positive psychology that refers to using one's cognitive or behavioral responses to regulate the emotional effect of positive events. 62 The previous diary study showed that savoring mediated and moderated the effect of daily positive events on happiness and mood. 63

Therefore, it might be useful to incorporate elements of savoring into gratitude intervention. In conclusion, the total number of gratitude lists and reflections might influence the effect on mental health and well‐being; however, due to the high heterogeneity of the studies (the content of the intervention, timing of measurement, subjects, etc.), further studies are needed.

4.4. Risk of bias within studies applying gratitude interventions

Based on our assessment of the risk of bias, all nine studies were rated as high risk of bias overall. While bias can occur in some domains due to the nature of the intervention (e.g., blinding of participants, personnel, and provider), it is necessary to study higher quality RCTs targeting workers. For example, randomization should be done by independent researchers, the process should be clearly stated, intention to treat (ITT) analysis should be employed, and protocol papers or registries should be opened in advance.

4.5. Limitations

The present systematic review has several limitations. First, we did not conduct a meta‐analysis because it was deemed inappropriate due to the large variability in mental health and well‐being indicators. Therefore, it is not possible to quantitatively verify the effects of the gratitude intervention among workers. Second, this review was limited to studies written in the English language. Third, it is possible that there was overlooked mixed intervention regardless they include gratitude activities substantially due to the reason it was not mentioned as gratitude activities clearly in the paper. Fourth, additional unpublished studies, especially those with negative consequences, were omitted. Therefore, publishing bias could not be ruled out. Fifth, generalizations have been limited because many studies were conducted on health care professionals and teachers, and few studies were conducted on general workers.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Most gratitude interventions incorporated a gratitude list, and some studies included gratitude activities as a part of the combined program. On the other hand, no studies focused on only behavioral gratitude expression among workers. Although studies in this review showed significant improvement in perceived stress and depression, the effects on well‐being were inconsistent. The total number of gratitude lists and reflections might influence the effect on mental health and well‐being; however, due to the high heterogeneity of the studies, further studies are needed.

Ethical approval : Ethical approval is not needed because data from previous studies in which informed consent was obtained by primary investigators were retrieved and included. Informed consent : N/A. Registry and the Registration No. of the study/Trial : The study protocol was registered at the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (ID = UMIN000039785). Animal Studies : N/A. Conflict of interest : Yu Komase, Kazuhiro Watanabe, Daisuke Hori, Kyosuke Nozawa, Yui Hidaka, Mako Iida, Kotaro Imamura declare no competing interests. Norito Kawakami reports grants from Fujitsu LTD., SB At Work Corp., personal fees from Occupational Health Foundation, Japan Dental Association, Sekisui Chemicals, Junpukai Health Care Center, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, non‐financial support from Japan Productivity Center, outside the submitted work.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

YK, KW, DH, KN, YH, MI, KI, and NK contributed substantially to the paper's conception, design, screening and evaluating studies, and writing and approved the manuscript for submission.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number JP1119140. The funding body has not been involved in the study's design and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

Komase Y, Watanabe K, Hori D, et al. Effects of gratitude intervention on mental health and well‐being among workers: A systematic review . J Occup Health . 2021; 63 :e12290. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12290 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

From Emotion Beliefs to Regulatory Behavior: Gratitude Journaling Initiation and Outcomes

• Research Paper
• Published: 26 October 2022
• Volume 24 , pages 57–78, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Chen-Wei Yu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3497-6840 1 , 2 ,
• Yen-Ping Chang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3408-472X 3 ,
• Cheng-Hsien Li   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7423-2280 4 &
• Hsiang-Yi Wu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8965-8471 5 , 6  

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Writing a gratitude journal is an effective way to boost positive affect. However, little is known about what factors drive people to engage in this activity and whether such factors are related to the outcomes of the activity. This investigation attempted to answer these two questions. We proposed that two beliefs about emotion—desirability of happiness and uncontrollability of negative emotion—motivate people’s engagement in a gratitude journal. We recruited 311 participants online and examined whether and via what paths people’s beliefs about emotion translated to their voluntary initiation of a gratitude journal. We further tested (among those who initiated a journal) whether the emotional outcomes of writing a journal could be predicted by their beliefs about emotion (n = 101). The results showed that the desirability of happiness belief predicted the initiation of a gratitude journal via both the attitude-intention and the subjective norm-intention paths. Furthermore, this belief was positively related to the change in people’s ideal positive affect after writing the journal. In contrast, the uncontrollability of negative emotion belief did not predict journal initiation because the negative effect through the perceived behavioral control-intention path and the positive effect through the intention-only path canceled each other out. Furthermore, this belief was positively related to the change in people’s actual positive affect after writing the journal. Together, the findings delineate an emotion belief-to-emotion regulation behavior link and the consequences of such behavior. Implications for the design of gratitude journals specifically and positivity activity interventions generally are discussed.

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We thank one reviewer for pointing out the difference between efficacy (i.e., whether an intervention works in optimal condition) and effectiveness (i.e., whether an intervention works in real life).

To ensure participants understood how this part of the study worked, the first author hosted a live information session lasting around an hour for every participant. During the information session, he explicitly stated to the participants that their daily submission of the journal would not affect their chances of winning the lottery.

One-tailed paired t tests on the post- and pretest affect scores showed a marginally significant increase in ideal positive affect, t (100) = 1.54, p  = .064, and a significant increase in actual positive affect t (100) = 5.15, p  < .001.

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Wu was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, funding number: 109-2410-H-037-012-.

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Chen-Wei Yu

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Yu, CW., Chang, YP., Li, CH. et al. From Emotion Beliefs to Regulatory Behavior: Gratitude Journaling Initiation and Outcomes. J Happiness Stud 24 , 57–78 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00584-5

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The Science of Gratitude

Research shows gratitude isn’t just a pleasant feeling—being grateful can also support greater health, happiness, and wisdom in ourselves and our communities.

• By Misty Pratt
• February 17, 2022

Gratitude offers us a way of embracing all that makes our lives what they are. More than just a happy feeling for the parts of our lives currently going our way, gratitude encompasses the willingness to expand our attention so that we perceive more of the goodness we are always receiving.

In the past two decades, a growing body of evidence in the field of social science has found that gratitude has measurable benefits for just about every area of our lives. Gratitude appears to contribute substantially to individual well-being and physical health. So much so that the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—a leader in research on the science of social and emotional well-being—describes gratitude as the “social glue” key to building and nurturing strong relationships.

Gratitude helps people realize that they wouldn’t be where they are without the help of others.

Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and one of the world’s leading experts on the science of gratitude, defines gratitude as having two parts. The first is an affirmation of goodness: People can learn to wake up to the good around them and notice the gifts they have received. The second part of gratitude is recognizing that the source of this goodness rests outside of oneself—that we receive these gifts from other people, and sometimes from a higher power, fate, or the natural world. In other words, gratitude helps people realize that they wouldn’t be where they are without the help of others.

A Brain Built On Gratitude

Gratitude is more than just a momentary good feeling. Scientists who have studied written gratitude interventions, such as gratitude letters or journals, have found benefits for an individual’s mental health and well-being. Gratitude practices also appear to help you feel more satisfied in life and can boost your self-esteem, according to peer-reviewed research.

The Science: Feel Happier

In one study involving nearly 300 adults seeking counseling services at a university, one randomized group wrote a gratitude letter each week for three weeks. The gratitude group reported significantly better mental health (compared to the control group) at follow-up, 12 weeks after the last writing exercise. Another type of written gratitude practice is counting blessings, or “Three Good Things.”A study of this practice found that people who wrote down three things that had gone well in their day and identified the causes of those good things were significantly happier and less depressed, even six months after the study ended.

How It Works: Strengthen Positive Recall

How exactly do these practices work to improve our mental well-being?

In general, people are more cognitively aware of their “headwinds” (or barriers they face) than “tailwinds” (benefits they receive). By paying more attention to our tailwinds, studies have shown that we can accentuate feelings of happiness, optimism, and positive emotion.

“Strengthening your positive recall bias makes it easier to see the good things around you even when times are dark,” says Nancy Davis Kho, author of the book The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time . Nancy set a lofty goal of writing 50 thank-you letters to people in her life and found that the practice improved her ability to weather some of life’s bigger challenges.

At first, Nancy found it difficult to come up with a list of 50 people. After she got started on the letters, the practice naturally boosted positive emotion and she was able to extend her gratitude well beyond her family and friends. Nancy encourages those writing gratitude letters to find “the creative people whose work carries you beyond yourself, whose vision helps you clarify your own, whose talent and hard work have combined to create a body of work that brings you simple joy.”

Why Practice: Deepen Resilience

Enduring gratitude is not just about happiness and positivity; it doesn’t require you to ignore or stifle negative emotions. In the book The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good , Robert Emmons writes that “practicing gratitude magnifies positive feelings more than it reduces negative feelings.” Gratitude helps you see the bigger picture and become more resilient in the face of adversity .

Nourish a Grateful Body

When digging into the science of gratitude, we begin to see there are more dimensions to this emotion than meet the eye. In the scientific literature, gratitude is studied in several different ways:

• Trait gratitude, which refers to whether people have a natu- rally grateful personality. Gratitude as a mood, which tracks daily fluctuations in gratitude.
• Gratitude as an emotion, which describes a passing feeling of gratitude (when receiving a thank-you letter, for example).

The “practice” of gratitude and the interventions that scientists use in their studies are activities designed to boost gratitude as a mood or emotion.

The Science: Boost Immunity and Heart Health

Research published in the last decade has shown that grateful people (those who have “trait gratitude”) have fewer common health complaints, such as headaches, digestion issues, respiratory infections, runny noses, dizziness, and sleep problems. It appears that practicing gratitude could also help to alleviate those pesky health problems. In one study, a group of college students who wrote about things they were grateful for once per week for 10 weeks reported fewer physical symptoms (such as headaches, shortness of breath, sore muscles, and nausea) compared to two other control groups.

How It Works: Calm the Nervous System

“Physiological changes associated with gratitude are typically a reduction in blood pressure and increase in vagal tone, which is taken as an index of increased parasympathetic influence on the peripheral nervous system,” says Dr. Emiliana Simon- Thomas, Science Director at the Greater Good Science Center . The parasympathetic nervous system (the part of the nervous system that allows our body to “rest and digest”) can help you conserve energy by slowing the heart rate, stimulating digestion, and contributing to overall relaxation.

This soothing of the nervous system may be one mechanism by which gratitude works to calm the body. A study of heart-failure patients who were randomly assigned to either an eight-week gratitude-journaling group or a treatment-as-usual group found that patients in the gratitude group showed more parasympathetic heart-rate variability, which is a sign of better heart health.

Why Practice: Make Healthier Choices

Strange as it may seem, gratitude can also encourage us to fuel our bodies with nourishing foods. Research shows grateful people report better physical health because they tend to engage in healthy activities such as focusing on nutrition. “We have found that getting people to express gratitude could help them work toward healthier eating behaviors, like more fruits and vegetables and less junk food,” says Lisa Walsh, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in social/personality psychology at University of California, Los Angeles, whose graduate studies included research with Sonja Lyubomirsky’s Positive Activities and Well-Being (PAW) Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside. In one of the PAW lab’s studies, high school students preselected a healthy eating goal and were asked to either write weekly gratitude letters or list their daily activities. Teens who expressed gratitude reported healthier eating behavior over time compared to those who just listed their activities. Other studies of people’s physical health outcomes have found that gratitude journaling can lead to better-quality sleep and lowered blood pressure.

Thankful to Those We Love

In addition to giving individual benefits, gratitude may also help to strengthen ties with friends, loved ones, and those in our wider communities. The find-remind-bind theory, first proposed by psychologist Sara Algoe—an associate professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—suggests that gratitude can help people identify good candidates for a new relationship (find), appreciate existing relationships (remind), and motivate people to maintain or invest in these relationships (bind). As Sara writes in a 2012 paper on her theory, “Gratitude starts inside one individual and its effects spread to a dyadic relationship and perhaps throughout a social network.”

The Science: Stronger Connections

“Social connection is likely key to well-being,” says Lisa Walsh. She explains that gratitude might not be an emotion that just makes people feel good; it appears to have social implications by motivating individuals to improve themselves. In an upcoming study from the PAW Laboratory at UC-Riverside, high school students who expressed gratitude had a mixed experience—they felt “elevated” (a positive emotion) and indebted. Immediately after writing their gratitude letters, the students also felt motivated to improve themselves.

Find-remind-bind theory suggests that expressing gratitude may prompt individuals to pay back the kindness they have received, and can also motivate a person to make decisions that will strengthen their relationships. Gratitude may increase a person’s desire to spend more time with someone, and it encourages prosocial behaviors.

How It Works: Better Communication

Gratitude also plays an important role in maintaining romantic relationships , acting as a “booster shot” to remind us why our partners are valuable and worth holding onto. By practicing gratitude, couples can initiate a cycle of generosity—one partner’s gratitude inspires the other to act in a way that reaffirms their commitment. One study found that receiving a thoughtful gesture from a partner was followed by increased feelings of gratitude and indebtedness. Experiencing gratitude from these acts of kindness led both partners to feel more connected and satisfied with their relationship the next day.

While many studies have examined the effects of writing gratitude, all the ways we communicate—letters, conversation, and social media—are avenues for expressing gratitude. Gratitude may also open the door to healthier communication styles within a relationship. Since the practice leads to more positive perceptions of our partners, friends, or family (and likely, greater trust), we may feel more comfortable talking through disagreements. In one study, participants who expressed gratitude toward a romantic partner or close friend reported greater ease when voicing relationship concerns in the future.

Why Practice: It’s Better Together

“Gratitude has made our family closer,” says Randi Joy, a chiropractor and life coach living in Ottawa. She’s been practicing gratitude with her family for about five years. “When we talk about our gratefulness and what we’re grateful for…we have a better connection,” she says. Whether it’s a gratitude walk where they discuss what they’re grateful for, or a list of their “gratefuls” at the dinner table, Randi’s family takes every opportunity to practice together.

Whether you hope to boost your mood and mental health, protect your physical health, or improve your personal relationships, a rich body of research in the field of social sciences has found that gratitude offers significant benefits. The takeaway: Cultivating gratitude can open the door to a different perspective-one that values the goodness in our lives. With practice, we can learn to see the bigger picture and navigate adversity with greater resilience.

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The Neuroscience of Gratitude and Effects on the Brain

A cushy job, a perfect family, financial stability, and a great social life!

And in this indefinite pursuit of happiness that is mostly like a mirage, how often do we spare a minute to thank what we already have at this very moment?

Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. By conveying and receiving simple ‘thank you’ messages, we can truly derive the pleasure that we seek everywhere else. Gratitude, derived from the Latin word ‘gratia,’ means gratefulness or thankfulness.

In its simplest form, gratitude refers to a ‘state of thankfulness’ or a ‘state of being grateful’.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

This Article Contains:

How gratitude works.

• The Neuroscientific Research into Gratitude

How Gratitude Affects the Brain

Does gratitude change the brain, joy, gratitude, and the brain, anxiety and gratitude.

• Looking at Gratitude and Grief
• The Relationship Between Resilience and Gratitude

Gratitude and Stress

A look at depression and gratitude, how does gratitude impact mental health, a take-home message.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

In positive psychology, gratitude is the human way of acknowledging the good things of life. Psychologists have defined gratitude as a positive emotional response that we perceive on giving or receiving a benefit from someone (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

A similar explanation was put forth by Emmons and McCullough who said that:

“Gratitude is associated with a personal benefit that was not intentionally sought after, deserved, or earned but rather because of the good intentions of another person” (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

Thanking others, thanking ourselves, Mother Nature, or the Almighty – gratitude in any form can enlighten the mind and make us feel happier. It has a healing effect on us (Russell & Fosha, 2008). The benefits of gratitude are endless, and in this article, let us try to explore what gratitude it, discuss its scientific base, and understand how we can use gratitude to be happier in life.

[Reviewer’s update]

While gratitude is part of a happy life (Watkins et al., 2003), and being happy may result in better health across a lifetime (e.g., Steptoe & Wardle, 2005; Cohen et al., 2003; Pettit et al., 2001), the most immediate and reliable benefits of gratitude are likely to be psychological and social, rather than physical.

“Enjoy the little things. For one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

Robert Brault

Gratitude in all forms is associated with happiness. Whether we say ‘thank you’ to someone or receive the same from others, the feeling it brings is that of pure satisfaction and encouragement. Expressions of gratitude help in building and sustaining long term relationships, deal with adversities and bounce back from them with strength and motivation.

Gratitude brings happiness

Gratitude improves interpersonal relationships at home and work (Gordon, Impett, Kogan, Oveis, & Keltner, 2012). The connection between gratitude and happiness is multi-dimensional. Expressing gratitude not only to others but also to ourselves, induces positive emotions, primarily happiness. By producing feelings of pleasure and contentment, gratitude impacts on our overall health and wellbeing as well.

In a survey on gratitude in adult professionals, British psychologist and wellness expert Robert Holden found that 65 out of 100 people selected happiness over health, although they indicated that both were equally important for a good life. Holden, in his study, suggested that the roots of many psychopathological conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress are unhappiness.

Simple practices like maintaining a gratitude journal , complimenting the self, or sending small tokens and thank you notes can make us feel a lot better and enhance our mood immediately. Couple studies have also indicated that partners who expressed their thankfulness to each other often, could sustain their relationships with mutual trust, loyalty, and had long-lasting happy relationships.

Gratitude improves health

Gratitude impacts on mental and physical wellbeing. Positive psychology and mental health researchers in the past few decades have established an overwhelming connection between gratitude and good health. Keeping a gratitude journal causes less stress, improves the quality of sleep, and builds emotional awareness (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005).

Gratitude is positively correlated to more vitality, energy, and enthusiasm to work harder.

Gratitude builds professional commitment

Grateful workers are more efficient, more productive and more responsible. Expressing gratitude in the workplace is a proactive action toward building interpersonal bonds and trigger feelings of closeness and bonding (Algoe, 2012).

Employees who practice expressing gratitude at work are more likely to volunteer for more assignments, willing to take an extra step to accomplish their tasks, and happily work as a part of the team. Also, managers and supervisors who feel grateful and remember to convey the same, have a stronger group cohesiveness and better productivity.

They recognize good work, gives everyone their due importance in the group and actively communicates with the team members.

Download 3 Free Gratitude Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to build daily gratitude habits, express more appreciation toward others, and experience more positive emotions in everyday life.

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The Neuroscientific Research Into Gratitude

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.”

Gratitude was significant in ancient philosophies and cultures, for example, in the Roman culture, where Cicero mentioned gratitude as the ‘mother’ of all human feelings. As an area of neuropsychological research, however, it was a rare subject of concern until the last two decades (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

Gratitude and the brain

Neural mechanisms that are responsible for feelings of gratitude have grabbed attention (Wood et al., 2008). Studies have demonstrated that at the brain level, moral judgments involving feelings of gratefulness are evoked in the right anterior temporal cortex (Zahn et al., 2009).

People who express and feel gratitude have a higher volume of gray matter in the right inferior temporal gyrus (Zahn et al., 2014).

Gratitude and neurotransmitters

Emily Fletcher, the founder of Ziva, a well-known meditation training site, mentioned in one of her publications that gratitude as a ‘natural antidepressant’. The effects of gratitude, when practiced daily can be almost the same as medications. It produces a feeling of long-lasting happiness and contentment, the physiological basis of which lies at the neurotransmitter level.

When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside.

By consciously practicing gratitude everyday, we can help these neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful and positive nature within ourselves.

Gratitude and social psychology

Gratitude has a social aspect to it that argues it to be a socially driven emotion. Social psychologists believe it to be entwined with the perception of what we have done for others and what others have done for us (Emmons & McNamara, 2006).

According to them, gratitude is an emotion that directly targets at building and sustaining social bondings (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008) and reinforce prosocial responses in the future (McCullough, Kimeldorf, & Cohen, 2008).

“It is not happiness that brings us gratitude. It is gratitude that brings us happiness.”

Gratitude may be a gesture or a group of kind words that we give or receive from others. But these simple exchanges of thankfulness goes a long way in affecting our overall biological functioning – especially the brain and the nervous system. The effect of gratitude on the brain is long lasting (Zahn et al., 2007).

Besides enhancing self-love and empathy, gratitude significantly impacts on body functions and psychological conditions like stress, anxiety, and depression.

1. Gratitude releases toxic emotions

The limbic system is the part of the brain that is responsible for all emotional experiences. It consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus. Studies have shown that hippocampus and amygdala, the two main sites regulating emotions, memory, and bodily functioning, get activated with feelings of gratitude.

A study conducted on individuals seeking mental health guidance revealed that participants of the group who wrote letters of gratitude besides their regular counseling sessions, felt better and recovered sooner (Wong et al., 2018).

The other group in the study that were asked to journal their negative experiences instead of writing gratitude letters reported feelings of anxiety and depression.

2. Gratitude reduces pain

Counting Blessings vs Burdens (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), a study conducted on evaluating the effect of gratitude on physical wellbeing, indicated that 16% of the patients who kept a gratitude journal reported reduced pain symptoms and were more willing to work out and cooperate with the treatment procedure. A deeper dig into the cause unleashed that by regulating the level of dopamine, gratitude fills us with more vitality, thereby reducing subjective feelings of pain.

3. Gratitude improves sleep quality

Studies have shown that receiving and displaying simple acts of kindness activates the hypothalamus, and thereby regulates all bodily mechanisms controlled by the hypothalamus, out of which sleep is a vital one.

Hypothalamic regulation triggered by gratitude helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally everyday. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and energetic every morning (Zahn et al., 2009).

4. Gratitude aids in stress regulation

McCraty and colleagues (cited in McCraty & Childre, 2004), in one of their studies on gratitude and appreciation, found that participants who felt grateful showed a marked reduction in the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. They had better cardiac functioning and were more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences.

Significant studies over the years have established the fact that by practicing gratitude we can handle stress better than others. By merely acknowledging and appreciating the little things in life, we can rewire the brain to deal with the present circumstances with more awareness and broader perception.

5. Gratitude reduces anxiety and depression

By reducing the stress hormones and managing the autonomic nervous system functions, gratitude significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. At the neurochemical level, feelings of gratitude are associated with an increase in the neural modulation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain site responsible for managing negative emotions like guilt, shame, and violence.

As a result, people who keep a gratitude journal or use verbal expressions for the same, are more empathetic and positive minded by nature.

Feeling grateful and appreciating others when they do something good for us triggers the ‘good’ hormones and regulates effective functioning of the immune system.

Scientists have suggested that by activating the reward center of the brain, gratitude exchange alters the way we see the world and ourselves.

Dr. Alex Korb, in his book Upward Spiral mentioned that gratitude forces us to focus on the positive sides of life.

When we give and receive ‘thank you’ notes, our brain is automatically redirected to pay attention to what we have, producing intrinsic motivation and a strong awareness of the present. Also, at the neurochemical level, gratitude acts as a catalyst for neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine – the ones that manage our emotions, anxiety, and immediate stress responses.

You can find a list with the best books on gratitude here .

“Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never ever have enough.”

Oprah Winfrey

Grateful people can derive more happiness and pleasure in daily life. As mentioned by G.K. Chesterton in his famous agricultural metaphor, the pursuit of true happiness is much the same as cultivation. We won’t get the desired result unless we nourish and nurture the seeds properly (Chesterton, 1986). The effects of practicing gratitude are not immediate, and they don’t appear magically.

But once started, gratitude continues to impact our physical and psychological wellbeing for years.

We know how to experience and express gratitude. All we need sometimes is a little push or a reminder of how powerful and vital gratitude exercises are . Dr. Amit Kumar revealed an interesting fact in his recent research on gratitude exercises (Kumar & Epley, 2018).

In the study, participants were asked to leave notes to people who meant a lot in their lives – for example, teachers, spouse, or friends. And these notes were not small papers saying ‘thank you’. They had to be detailed and more in-depth. Surprisingly, participants could finish writing lengthy gratitude notes in less than five minutes, and reported feelings of contentment after doing so.

Cultivating happiness and joy with gratitude

Unhappy people lean more on their weakness and struggle with their self-identity. We must stop doubting ourselves and start celebrating our achievements. Wondering how? Here are some simple hacks that might help you.

1. Appreciate Yourself

Stand in front of your mirror and speak out five good things to yourself. It can be about your past achievements or your present efforts, your talents and your virtues. Just say the words aloud. Compliment yourself with words like beautiful, loyal, disciplined, kind, loving, etc., and notice if that makes you feel better. Repeat this as often as you want to and record your experience.

2. Gratitude journal

You might have heard about this before. A gratitude journal is your personal space to pen down all the little and big things in life that you are thankful for. Your gratitude journal can accommodate in your ‘dear diary’, your daily planner, or your online notepad. As you sit to express gratitude , you will consciously choose to focus on the good memories and might even recollect some long lost happy moments.

There is power in words, so don’t overlook the small things, no matter how unimportant they may seem. A gratitude journal can look something like this:

3. Gratitude Visits

We all have someone, whose unconditional support and help meant a lot to us. We feel as if we ‘owe’ our happiness and success to them. If you have such a person, he/she might be your friend, family, or a professional associate, meet them once or twice a month.

Initiate the plan, go and express your thankfulness one more time – let the person feel important. Exchange some good memories and offer your support. In most cases, gratitude visits bring a feeling of sanctity and positivity instantly.

4. Do not hesitate to be happy

If you feel happy, don’t shy away from it. Remind yourself that you have worked hard enough to achieve this and you truly deserve it. Be it a huge achievement or a small success, acknowledge your joy and be thankful for the moment. Accepting happiness makes us stronger and more grateful for what we have. We learn to praise our efforts and prepare ourselves better for facing difficulties in the future.

5. Find a gratitude buddy

Find a gratitude buddy for your daily practice – it can be your spouse, your kid, or your friend at work. Set aside some minutes everyday where you two (or more if you have more buddies) sit together and discuss the things you are thankful for. Ask questions to each other and open up informally. Sharing thoughts of gratefulness with someone is a great way to sustain motivation strengthen your emotional skills.

When fear sets in, our body releases hormones that create the fight or flight responses, and we react likewise. The brain doesn’t get much time to analyze the right or wrong when the adrenaline rush begins.

The worst upshot of anxiety is that it makes us feel insecure, and we start questioning our inner strengths. Eventually, coping mechanisms start failing.

In the book ‘ Grateful Brain, ’ author Alex Korb (2012) said that our brain is conditioned to function in a repeated way. For example, a person who worries too much about the adverse outcomes will subconsciously re-wire his brain to process negative information only. Korb has mentioned that our mind cannot focus on positive and negative information at the same time.

By consciously practicing gratitude, we can train the brain to attend selectively to positive emotions and thoughts, thus reducing anxiety and feelings of apprehension.

Recent studies into gratitude and anxiety

These findings got stronger validation after a recent study conducted on the relationship between gratitude and death anxiety (Lau & Cheng, 2011).

The experiment was conducted on 83 Chinese adults, aged above 60 years, who were divided into three groups. One of the three groups were asked to write gratitude notes and words of positivity, another was asked to write about their worries, and the third group was given a neutral task.

After task completion, the groups were exposed to stimuli arousing death anxiety, the inevitable fear that we all suffer from.

Results showed that participants of the first group who wrote gratitude notes showed fewer symptoms of death anxiety than the other two groups. Re-examination of the results showed that with a grateful attitude in life, we gain acceptance and become fearless of the future.

At a neurobiological level, gratitude regulates the sympathetic nervous system that activates our anxiety responses, and at the psychological level, it conditions the brain to filter the negative ruminations and focus on the positive thoughts.

Because of its implications in anxiety reduction, gratitude practices like journaling and group discussions are now a significant part of mental health interventions and life coaching regimes.

Gratitude practices are especially effective for treating phobias like death anxiety, PTSD, social phobia, and nihilism.

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Gratitude And Grief

“Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow”

Difficult as it may sound, but grieving with gratitude can bring in a ray of hope in the darkest times in life. Finding a reason to be thankful in days of despair may seem impossible. In her book on gratitude and grief, Kelly Buckley (2017) mentioned how she found the meaning of her pain and her life after losing her 23-year old son.

While it is true that practicing gratitude makes us resilient to negative emotions and distress, it cannot be denied that mundane misfortunes are inevitable and are bound to affect our wellbeing.

Grief Management With Gratitude

1. cry your heart out.

Crying doesn’t make us weak. Instead, it is an act of acceptance and awareness of our emotions. We cry because we know how we are feeling and why we are feeling so. It gives a vent to the pain and helps us to step up and change our lives.

2. Collect the broken pieces

Grieving with gratitude lets us appreciate the things that we still have. For example, for a person who just got fired from his job, thanking his family and friends, who stand by his side during the crisis, can help in reducing the pain. By consciously acknowledging their love and support, he can feel grateful and regain the motivation to look for other employment opportunities.

3. Ask for help

Do not hesitate to seek professional help when all your coping mechanisms fail. Studies have shown that people who practice gratitude are more willing to participate in counseling and therapy for managing their depression, and the prognosis is much brighter in such instances.

4. Keep a gratitude jar

Keep a glass jar or a transparent box and some small pieces of paper beside it. Take up one paper everyday and write about one thing that you are grateful for today. It may be your family, good health, loving friends, your home, or yourself for enduring so much – anything that made you feel blessed that day. As the jar gets filled up, you will naturally feel more gifted and hopeful.

The grief may still be there, but you will gain the strength to look beyond it.

The Relationship Between Resilience And Gratitude

Gratitude fosters adaptive coping mechanisms. By managing positive emotions like satisfaction, happiness, and pleasure, gratitude enhances our emotional resilience and builds our inner strength to combat stress (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016).

Psychologists Shai Davidai and Thomas Gilovich, in one of their papers , called the ‘Headwinds/Tailwinds Asymmetry: An Availability Bias in Assessments of Barriers and Blessings’ (2016) mentioned that we tend to focus more on the obstacles and difficulties of life because they demand some action. We have to fight and overcome them to get back the normal flow of life.

On the flip-side, we forget to attend to the better things in life because they are ‘already there’ and we don’t have to do anything to make them stay with us. Practicing gratitude, according to Gilovich, is the best way to remind ourselves of the things that give us the courage to move on in life.

Studies on gratitude and resilience

A cross-sectional study published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry found a strong positive correlation between gratitude, resilience, and feelings of happiness (McCanlies, Gu, Andrew, & Violanti, 2018).

The study was conducted on a large sample of the adult population, and statistical treatment showed that participants who felt more grateful and practiced gratitude journaling, were found happier and emotionally stronger than others (McCanlies, Gu, Andrew, & Violanti, 2018).

An extension of the study on depressive patients showed that those who practiced gratitude exercises recovered soon and felt more motivated to bounce back from their distress.

Building Resilience With Gratitude

Many psychologists believe that emotional resilience is an interplay of five components (McCullough & Witvliet, 2002):

• Social competence – The ability to stand out among others and the urge to win a situation
• Problem-solving – The ability to focus on solutions and proactively act on them
• Autonomy – The motivation to exercise freedom and ask for it when required
• Forgiveness – The inner power to let go of something and move on from there
• Empathy – The strength to feel others and look into the matter from their point of view.

Modern research and studies indicate that there is a sixth component to emotional resilience – gratitude. Gratitude builds emotional resilience by:

• Helping us to see the positive things in life
• Fighting the negative ruminations and rebuilding pessimistic thoughts with optimistic ones
• Staying grounded and accept the present situation, even if that is a harsh reality
• Identifying and focusing only on solutions
• Maintain good health by regulating our metabolic functioning and by controlling the hormonal imbalances
• Sustain relationships and appreciate people who are there for us. As a result, we feel more loved, cared for, and more hopeful.

Simple Gratitude Practices For Building Emotional Resilience

1. meditation and breath control.

Starting any gratitude practice with a brisk meditation and breath control session is a good idea. Deep breathing and constant focus allow the mind to settle down and gather itself. You feel more relaxed and more connected to yourself, and now is a good time to start your practice.

Here is a 2-minute meditation session that you can follow:

2. Gratitude list

Much like the gratitude journal, the gratitude list will help you come face-to-face with your blessings. Take a pen and paper (or your mobile notepad) and make a list of all those people who offered their support when you needed it the most. While you are writing, try to revert to the days and feel the thankfulness in your heart again. Once the list is made, look at it for 2 minutes and go back to work.

3. Gratitude notes

Once your gratitude list is completed, start writing small thank you note to each of the people you mentioned in the list before. The notes can be as short as you want, but make sure you are pouring your feelings into them. Send the messages to the people concerned – either as handwritten notes, or SMS, or emails. Just make sure your message reaches them and do not expect responses.

4. Reminiscence Meditation

Notice how this makes you feel more grateful and appreciative of the present. The time travel that we do with this meditation instantly exposes us to our fortitude – we start feeling more confident of ourselves and gain the strength to fight stress in the same way we did before.

“God gave you a gift of 86400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?”

William Arthur Ward

Stress is our body’s natural response to change – be that good or bad. Positive stress or eustress brings us joy and is usually the least of our concerns. Unforeseen setbacks trigger negative stress or distress. We consider it as toxic and want to get rid of it.

Gratitude: A natural detox

Robert Emmons, a well-known mental health specialist, conducted several studies on stress and health which indicated that gratitude effectively releases stress hormones and increase positive emotions like happiness. Commitment to daily gratitude practice reduces an array of negative emotions and is a natural stress detox for the mind and body.

Studies have indicated that people who feel more grateful to Him, are healthier and stress resilient in life (Krause, 2006). An experiment conducted on three groups of individuals, each team representing a particular age-group, revealed that older men and women felt more grateful to God for their lives, and scored a high stress-tolerance index than others.

Pause. Breathe. And appreciate.

Gratitude is not a quick heal or an immediate relief for stress. Practicing gratitude doesn’t mean that we will be ever happy and delighted. Gratitude asks us to accept that we are sad and focus on how to reduce it. We don’t expect miracles when we write a gratitude journal; we just get a closer view of the right things that still exist in life. The benefits of gratitude journaling are multifarious.

By being more grateful in the inside and expressing it on the outside, we gain the power to combat and cope with the stress.

“It is impossible to feel depressed and grateful at the same moment.”

Naomi Williams

Dr. John Medina, in his bestseller project ‘Brain Rules’ mentioned how gratitude could be an eyeopener in low times. He indicated that by looking around and acknowledging the support that we have right now, we can successfully shift focus from our burdens to the blessings we have.

Depression has a psychological and a neurochemical base – both of which can be addressed by gratitude. By displacing our attention from problems to solutions, gratitude practices hit the serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin – neurotransmitters that make us feel good (Burton, 2020). With the surge of these chemicals in the brain, the apathy gets curbed away, and we revive the motivation that depression had sucked away.

Gratitude and appreciation is entwined with numerous benefits including enhanced mood and self-esteem (Killen & Macaskill, 2015). Gratitude as an intervention for treating depression is convenient, less time-consuming, less expensive, and useful for the long-term (Mills et al., 2015).

Gratitude exercises for dealing with depression

Sansone and Sansone (2010), has suggested three gratitude practices that work best with depression and grief (see Grief Counseling Techniques ).

1. Gratitude Journal

As mentioned earlier, keeping a journal where you write about all the people and things in life you are grateful for, can make a remarkable difference in your mental state. We know how a gratitude journal looks like. Here are some tips on how to prepare and maintain one:

• Commit to daily practice.
• Set aside some time (for example early in the morning or right before bedtime) and journal your gratitude the same time everyday.
• Go through the previous pages and recollect the good things that happened to you in the past.
• When filling the journal, try to be as detailed as you can. Record every little thing associated with the person or the incident you are offering your gratitude to.
• Make your journal attractive. Use colorful pens, stickers, or craft papers to give the gratitude journal an exciting look. Make the journaling more of an experience rather than a daily practice.

2. Gratitude Assessments

Self-assessments like GQ-6 (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002) or the Gratitude Assessment (Hardy, 2010) can be a good way of evaluating how grateful we feel from the inside. Besides gaining insight on our level of gratitude, gratitude assessments increase awareness and present to us the array of possibilities to deal with our stress and negativities.

You can also take the Gratitude Quiz developed by Mitchel Adler and Nancy Fagley (2005), which gives an accurate estimate of what we are grateful for in life and how we can cultivate the mind to extract gratitude from the kindness we receive.

3. Gratitude Meditation

Gratitude meditation is a simple grounded technique to resonate our thoughts and feelings on all the people, situations, and things that we are truly grateful for. Through gratitude meditation, we choose to focus on ourselves (our achievements, our talents, our feelings at the moment) and on the world (our family, friends, and everyone else who unconditionally love and support us).

It enhances perspective, clarifies vision, and frees us from the burden of stress and burnout almost immediately.

Here is a guided gratitude meditation practice that you can follow:

“But I know that I spent a long time existing, and now I intend to live”

Sabaa Tahir

Stress does not have to control our lives when we feel and express gratitude regularly. There is no part of wellbeing that is untouched by gratitude, be that physical, mental, or social.

Practicing gratitude is gaining a life-view of thankfulness . By appreciating ourselves, our dear ones, Nature, and the Almighty, we experience the purest form if all positive emotions. It helps us to realize that nothing is obvious and nothing is to be taken for granted – for it is the little things in life where our real joy lies.

Dr. Emmons, in his studies on the striking effects of gratitude on mental health revealed:

• Gratitude practices reduce cardiac diseases, inflammations, and neurodegeneration significantly
• Daily journaling and gratitude jars can help individuals fighting with depression, anxiety, and burnout
• Writing gratitude letters brings hope and evokes positivity in suicidal patients and those fighting terminal diseases
• Gratitude improves the sleep-wake cycle and enhances mood. It helps people with insomnia, substance abuse, and eating disorders.

17 Exercises To Nurture Gratitude & Appreciation

Empower others with more hope, satisfaction, and fulfilling relationships with these 17 Gratitude & Appreciation Exercises [PDF] that harness the powerful benefits of gratitude.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Practicing gratitude is synonymous to expressing our feelings for others and ourselves. By simple words of love and praise, we not only make others feel good, but we also feel a lot better of ourselves and our lives. Gratitude is about feeling the right way, about the right things, and at the right time. It is inseparably linked with self-discipline and motivation.

It may not give us instant relief from pain and stress, but it brings the feeling of control back to us.

By acknowledging and appreciating our assets, gratitude gives us the charge of our own lives. As Robin Sharma has beautifully put it:

“Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness boosts productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. And mastery inspires the world”.

For further reading:

• The Gratitude Tree for Kids (Incl. Activities + Drawings)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free .

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The distinctiveness of christian gratitude: a theological survey.

1. Introduction

Receiving $ 20 from a friend may induce gratitude regardless of one’s spiritual persuasion, however finding $ 20 on the street can only induce gratitude if it is perceived (explicitly or implicitly) that a non-corporeal agent, such as God, brought about this event. Religion may therefore enhance gratitude through the mechanism of religious gratitude (i.e., by broadening its potential application to all positive life events). ( Rosmarin et al. 2011, p. 390 )

3.1. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)

There is a certain gratitude that is a mere natural thing. Gratitude is one of the natural affections of the soul of man…an affection one has towards another, for loving him, or gratifying him, or for something in him that suits self-love…And hence men, from this principle, may be much affected with the wonderful goodness of God to mankind, his great goodness in giving his Son to die for fallen man, and the marvelous love of Christ in suffering such great things for us, and with the great glory they hear God has provided in heaven for us; looking on themselves as persons concerned and interested, as being some of this species of creatures so highly favored: the same principle of natural gratitude may influence men here, as in the case of personal benefits. But these things that I have said do by no means imply, that all gratitude to God is a mere natural thing, and that there is no such thing as a spiritual gratitude, which is a holy and divine affection: they imply no more, than that there is a gratitude which is merely natural, and that when persons have affections towards God only or primarily for benefits received, their affection is only the exercise of a natural gratitude. There is doubtless such a thing as a gracious gratitude, which does greatly differ from all that gratitude which natural men experience. ( Edwards 2001, pp. 169–73 )

True gratitude, or thankfulness to God for his kindness to us, arises from a foundation, laid before, of love to God for what he is in himself; whereas a natural gratitude has no such antecedent foundation. The gracious stirrings of grateful affection to God, for kindness received, always are from a stock of love already in the heart, established in the first place on other grounds, viz. God’s own excellency; and hence the affections are disposed to flow out, on occasions of God’s kindness. The saint having seen the glory of God, and his heart overcome by it, and captivated into a supreme love to him on that account, his heart hereby becomes tender, and easily affected with kindness received…Self-love is not excluded from a gracious gratitude; the saints love God for his kindness to them, (Ps. 116:1): “I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication”. But something else is included; another love prepares the way, and lays the foundation for these grateful affections. In a gracious gratitude, men are affected with the attribute of God’s goodness and free grace, not only as they are concerned in it, or as it affects their interest, but as a part of the glory and beauty of God’s nature. ( Edwards 2001, p. 173 )

3.2. Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

In this way the religious talk, too, regresses, e.g., when a man says: ‘After many errors, I learned finally to cling to God in earnest, and he has not left me since. My business is flourishing, my projects prosper, I am now happily married and my children are healthy’, etc. Here the religious man has returned to the aesthetic dialectic, for even if he is good enough to say that he thanks God for all these blessings, the question is still the way he thanks him, whether he does it directly or first makes the movement of uncertainty that is the mark of the God-relationship. For just as a person in the midst of misfortune has no right to say to God directly that this is misfortune, since in the movement of uncertainty he has to suspend his understanding, so too he may not take all these good things directly as evidence of the God-relationship. The direct relation is an aesthetic one and indicates that in his thanksgiving he relates not to God but to his own idea of fortune and misfortune. For the fact is that if a human being cannot know for certain whether a misfortune is an evil (the uncertainty of the God-relationship), then he cannot know for certain whether his good fortune is a good. The only evidence of the God-relationship is the relationship itself, everything else is ambiguous, because religiously for every human being, however old he becomes, in regard to the dialectic of the external, it is a matter of being born yesterday and knowing nothing [cf. Job 8:9]. Thus the great actor Seydelmann [Karl Seydelmann, German actor (1795–1845)] (as I see from Røtscher’s biography), on the night that he was garlanded in the Opera House ‘to applause lasting several minutes’, on coming home, fervently thanked God for all of this. The very fervour shows that he did not give thanks to God, for had he been hissed off the stage he would have rebelled against God with the same passion. If he had given thanks religiously and so thanked God, then the Berlin audience and the laurel wreath and the applause lasting several minutes would have become ambiguous in the dialectical uncertainty of the religious. ( Kierkegaard 2009, p. 374 )

3.3. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945)

Jesus Christ—and everything established in him—is the first and last ground of all gratitude. He is the gift from heaven, which we were not able to procure for ourselves, in whom the love of God encounters us in the flesh. In Jesus Christ alone are we able to thank God (Rom. 7:25). In Jesus Christ God gives us everything…That for which I can thank God is good. That for which I cannot thank God is evil. But the determination whether I can thank God for something is discerned on the basis of Jesus Christ and his word. Jesus Christ is the limit of gratitude. Jesus Christ is also the fullness of gratitude; in him gratitude knows no bounds. It encompasses all the gifts of the created world. It embraces even pain and suffering. It penetrates the deepest darkness until it has found within it the love of God in Jesus Christ. To be thankful means to say yes to all that God gives “at all times and for everything” (Eph. 5:20). Gratitude is even able to encompass past sin and to say yes to it, because in it God’s grace is revealed—o felix culpa (Rom. 6:17). ( Bonhoeffer 2006, pp. 489–90 )

3.4. Arthur McGill (1926–1980)

Too often Christian gratitude is construed as if it were a perfectly normal human activity. Does not God like to give? Do not people like to receive? Is not gratitude that perfectly natural and inevitable attitude which any decent person would adopt in the face of God’s giving? This, I believe, is an illusion, and it is an illusion that must be abolished. God’s giving is not like ordinary giving, and receiving from God is not at all like ordinary receiving. In fact, it is just the opposite. ( McGill 2013, p. 39 )

Because receiving removes my neediness, because it confers upon my existence that which I require, I do all myself to acknowledge that I am needy—but only for a moment. Understand this clearly: I acknowledge myself to be needy before another and let myself receive from that other, only because I expect that this receiving will remove me from needing that other anymore. The food for my hunger is now effectively mine…If I went to another to receive food and then couldn’t be sure that I had enough control over it to eat it whenever I wanted, I wouldn’t call that giving or receiving. And if I thought that would happen, I certainly would not go through the unpleasantness of acknowledging my neediness. So it is with normal receiving, and with the gratitude aroused in someone by normal giving. So it is with Thanksgiving Day. ( McGill 2013, pp. 40–41 )

This customary form of gratitude to God is a lie, according to McGill. Christian gratitude is different.

It is precisely in this way that God does not give and we do not receive through Jesus Christ. Giving and receiving between God and humanity in Jesus Christ is not the transfer of some third item, some “what” which passes from the possession of God into the possession of humans. God gives us a new self by which we belong to him and reflect his will—his loving, his knowing, his serving. He never delivers this new self into our control and our disposal. This new self is never ours; it is his. It remains his and not ours…All that we are is being received from God, and never established or owned for one instant by ourselves. Certainly this can be a source of unlimited gratitude, as Paul insists…But this human destitution can also be a source of uncontrollable fear. To have nothing, to receive nothing into our possession, to be able to put our names on nothing: to be only receivers—isn’t that threatening and dismaying? I do not want God to give me myself. I want to make myself, I want to be my own achievement… Christian gratitude is not like secular, worldly gratitude at all. ( McGill 2013, pp. 41–42 )

3.5. Herbert McCabe (1926–2001)

The greatest gift of God to you is not just that he made you, but that you love him. The greatest gift of God to you is that you can speak with him and say ‘thank you’ to him as to a friend—that you are on intimate speaking terms with God. God has made us not just his creatures but his lovers; he has given us not just our existence, our life, but a share in his life. We converse familiarly with God on equal terms as the Son does with the Father. We love God with the same love that Jesus had for him, the love we call the Holy Spirit. And we love ourselves not only because we came forth from God but because our life is God’s life, the life of the Spirit. ( McCabe 2003, pp. 73–74 )

3.6. Peter Leithart (1959-Present)

He attacked the tradition of the elders. He encouraged disciples to leave, even to ‘hate’, parents in order to follow him…He criticized the reciprocities of Jewish social life…Jesus aimed to detach giving and gratitude from the honor system in which it was embedded in Roman society and in Jewish life. He instructed his disciples to give generously and to receive with thanks but without participating in any honor competition. They are not to give in order to gain leverage or impose debts. Jesus assaulted the gift practices of his contemporaries. ( Leithart 2014, p. 68 )

Jesus frees benefactors to give generously without anxiety about depleting resources or failing to get repaid honorably. The Father will take care of all that, Jesus says. The gospel likewise frees the recipient. Because givers look to the Father and not to the recipients for repayment, recipients are free from debt burdens. They have repaid their debt when they give thanks to the Father who was the ultimate source of the gift in the first place. ( Leithart 2014, p. 71 )

urges the Romans to “owe nothing to anyone but to love one another” (Rom. 13:8). That is as much as to say, “Do not allow yourself to be put in a condition of debt to anyone”. That does not mean, as it might seem, “Do not become a recipient of benefits”. Paul knows that everyone is needy, dependent on God and on others for almost anything. “No debts” means that benefits are always finally referred to a single divine patron. In the community of Jesus, the only debt is the debt of love. Thanks is owed, but it is owed for rather than to benefactors”. ( Leithart 2014, p. 74 )

5. Conclusions

Institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Dunnington, K. The Distinctiveness of Christian Gratitude: A Theological Survey. Religions 2022 , 13 , 889. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100889

Dunnington K. The Distinctiveness of Christian Gratitude: A Theological Survey. Religions . 2022; 13(10):889. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100889

Dunnington, Kent. 2022. "The Distinctiveness of Christian Gratitude: A Theological Survey" Religions 13, no. 10: 889. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100889

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Research Related to Gratitude

In recent years, science has explored the impact of feeling grateful on our health, sleep, relationships and more. For a deep dive into the particulars of why living gratefully matters, we offer this list of studies.

Est. reading time: 5 minutes.

The Mediational Roles of Gratitude and Perceived Support in Explaining the Relationship Between Mindfulness and Mood (2018) Given the strong links in the literature between mindfulness and well-being, researchers examined whether gratitude might serve as a mediator in the relationship between mindfulness and mood. Additionally, because gratitude is believed to strengthen ties to others, they also tested whether gratitude and perceived social support might serve as mediators in a multi-mediated model. Specifically, it was predicted that mindfulness would contribute to the expression of heightened gratitude which, in turn, would influence a heightened sense of perceived support.

Neural Correlates of Gratitude (2015) An experiment was conducted during which gratitude was induced in participants while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. The hypothesis was that gratitude ratings would correlate with activity in brain regions associated with moral cognition, value judgment and theory of mind. The stimuli used to elicit gratitude were drawn from stories of survivors of the Holocaust, as many survivors report being sheltered by strangers or receiving lifesaving food and clothing, and having strong feelings of gratitude for such gifts.

The Role of Gratitude in Spiritual Well-Being in Asymptomatic Heart Failure Patients (2015) This study examined associations between gratitude, spiritual well-being, sleep, mood, fatigue, cardiac-specific self efficacy, and inflammation in 186 men and women with Stage B asymptomatic heart failure. PDF of study

You Didn’t Have to Do That: Belief in Free Will Promotes Gratitude (2014) Four studies tested the hypothesis that a weaker belief in free will would be related to feeling less gratitude.

The Big Benefits of a Little Thanks (2013) Francesca Gino and Adam Grant, of Harvard Business School and Wharton, respectively, discuss their research on gratitude and how even a tiny amount of gratitude can have a huge impact.

Graduate counseling psychology students’ experiences of mindfulness meditation and gratitude journaling (2013) Using a qualitative design with thematic analysis, a 15-minute mindfulness meditation and gratitude journalling intervention was conducted with 9 graduate counseling psychology students.

Find, Remind, and Bind: The Functions of Gratitude in Everyday Relationships (2012) Within the context of reciprocally-altruistic relationships, gratitude signals communal relationship norms and may be an evolved mechanism to fuel upward spirals of mutually responsive behaviors between recipient and benefactor.

At the 2014 Greater Good Gratitude Summit, Sara B. Algoe of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, describes her research into how gratitude affects romantic partners’ feelings for one another, as well as their style of relating to each other.

To Have and to Hold: Gratitude Promotes Relationship Maintenance in Intimate Bonds (2012) This multi-method series of studies merges the literatures on gratitude and risk regulation to test a new process model of gratitude and relationship maintenance. PDF of study

Effects of Constructive Worry, Imagery Distraction, and Gratitude Interventions on Sleep Quality (2011) E-mailed self-help versions of constructive worry, imagery distraction, or a gratitude intervention helped university students quiet their minds and sleep better.

Death and gratitude: Death reflection enhances gratitude (2011) Participants were randomly assigned to a death reflection condition, a traditional mortality salience condition, or to a control condition. Participants in the death reflection and the mortality salience conditions showed enhanced gratitude compared to individuals in the control condition, supporting the theory that becoming aware of one’s mortal limitations enhances gratitude for the life that what one has. PDF of study

Measuring Gratitude in Youth: Assessing the Psychometric Properties of Adult Gratitude Scales in Children and Adolescents (2011) This study is an empirical investigation, based on a large youth sample with ages ranging from 10 to 19 years old, of the psychometric properties of scores of the Gratitude Questionnaire-6, the Gratitude Adjective Checklist, and the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test. PDF of study

A Grateful Heart is a Nonviolent Heart: Cross-Sectional, Experience Sampling, Longitudinal, and Experimental Evidence (2011) Five studies tested the hypothesis that gratitude is linked to lower levels of aggression.

It’s the Little Things: Everyday Gratitude as a Booster Shot for Romantic Relationships (2010) Drawing on a social functional model of emotions, this study tested the roles of gratitude and indebtedness in romantic relationships with a daily-experience sampling of both members of cohabiting couples. PDF of study

Gratitude and Well-Being: A Review and Theoretical Integration (2010) This paper presents a new model of gratitude incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life. PDF of study

Who Benefits The Most from a Gratitude Intervention in Children and Adolescents? Examining Positive Affect as a Moderator (2009) This study examined if positive affect moderated the effects of a gratitude intervention where youth were instructed to write a letter to someone whom they were grateful and deliver it to them in person. PDF of study

Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions (2009) This study tested whether individual differences in gratitude are related to sleep after controlling for neuroticism and other traits. PDF of study

Beyond Reciprocity: Gratitude and Relationships in Everyday Life (2008) The authors examined the role of naturally occurring gratitude in college sororities during a week of gift-giving from older members to new members.

An Adaptation for Altruism? The Social Causes, Social Effects, and Social Evolution of Gratitude (2008) Evolutionary theories propose that gratitude is an adaptation for reciprocal altruism (the sequential exchange of costly benefits between nonrelatives) and, perhaps, upstream reciprocity (a pay-it-forward style distribution of an unearned benefit to a third party after one has received a benefit from another benefactor). Gratitude therefore may have played a unique role in human social evolution. PDF of study

A social-cognitive model of trait and state levels of gratitude (2008) 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). PDF of study

Gratitude and prosocial behavior: helping when it costs you (2006) The ability of the emotion gratitude to shape costly prosocial behavior was examined in three studies employing interpersonal emotion inductions and requests for assistance. PDF of study

How to Increase and Sustain Positive Emotion: The Effects of Expressing Gratitude and Visualizing Best Possible Selves (2006) A 4-week experimental study examined the motivational predictors and positive emotion outcomes of regularly practicing two mental exercises: counting one’s blessings (“gratitude”) and visualizing best possible selves (“BPS”). PDF of study

Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life (2003) The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. PDF of study

Gratitude and Happiness: Development of a Measure of Gratitude and Relationships with Subjective Well-Being (2003) Four studies were conducted evaluating the reliability and validity of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT), a measure of dispositional gratitude. PDF of study

The Grateful Disposition: A Conceptual and Empirical Topography (2002) In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. PDF of study

Thanks to the Greater Good Science Center for posting PDFs of studies on their website.

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Research paper: the science of gratitude.

Research Paper By Rosemarie Demello (Life Transformational Coach, INDIA)

Introduction

Can the heartfelt practice of gratitude be used as an effective and powerful coaching tool? Can our feelings, behavior and general states of well being be altered by feeling grateful?

These questions ignited my curiosity and snow-balled my intention to present my research paper on the power of gratitude. Since 2000, positive psychology has been interested in gratitude and the impact it can have on one’s life. By taking the time to notice what is good in your life, you tell your brain what is important to attend to and remember. Often the things that we appreciate in life can be overlooked on a day-to-day basis.

A grateful predisposition and the practice of gratitude may increase the access to and the enhancement of positive information regarding one’s life (Rash, Matsuba, & Prkachin, 2011, p. 365).

The Science of Gratitude

Dr. Robert Emmons a leading authority in the field of positive psychology and the effects of gratitude says,

Scientists are latecomers to the concept of gratitude. Religions, philosophies and ancient teachings have long embraced gratitude as an indispensable manifestation of virtue and an integral component of health, wholeness and well being.

Dr Emmons and fellow researcher Michael McCullough describe gratitude as a personality strength – the ability to be keenly aware of the good things that happen to you and never take them for granted. Grateful individuals express their thanks and appreciation for others in a heartfelt way, not just to be polite. If you possess a high level of gratitude you often feel an emotional sense of wonder, thankfulness and appreciation for life itself.

Researchers have found that individuals who exhibit and express the most gratitude are happier, healthier, and more energetic. The more a person is inclined towards gratitude, the less lonely, stressed, anxious or depressed. he or she will be. As research grows in this area the number of studies which show the positive impact of gratitude multiply.

Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson (2005) had participants write a letter thanking someone for the positive impact they had on the participant’s life. Participants were asked to then deliver and read the letter aloud to the person they had written to. The researchers found that people who completed the exercise reported experiencing more happiness and less feelings of depression than the control group for up to one month later.

In Rash, Matsuba, and Prkachin’s (2011) study, participants were engaged in a four-week program where gratitude contemplation was encouraged by having participants think about people, or moments that they were grateful for and to sustain the feelings of gratitude for five minutes. The researchers found that participants who completed the contemplation activity had increased levels of satisfaction with life and self-esteem as compared to the participants who were asked to think about a memorable life event.

Emmons and McCullough (2003) examined the impact of having participants create a gratitude list (things they were grateful for) each day. The other participants in the two control groups created lists of either daily hassles or daily neutral events. They found that participants who created the gratitude list reported a reduction in negative affect, better sleep, more feelings of connection to others, increased optimism, and increased positive feelings as compared to the control group participants.

Martin Seligman, a researcher and teacher at the University of Pennsylvania, is considered the father of positive psychology. He developed an inventory, the VIA (which stands for Values In Action) Survey of Character Strengths, which allows individuals to explore character traits and rate their personal strengths and aspects of happiness. He noticed that when an individual had an insufficient appreciation of good events, and an overemphasis of bad or unfortunate experiences, it greatly undermined their serenity, contentment and satisfaction with life.

Gratitude and Human Physiology

To fully understand why gratitude has such positive effects on human states of well being it is helpful to understand how the feeling of gratitude and the thinking of grateful intentions, thoughts and words impacts our physiology, brain chemistry and patterns. In the book, Train Your Brain to Get Happy, authors Aubele, Wenck, and Reynolds note that every thought we have produces chemicals in the brain. When we have negative thoughts, these chemicals slow the brain, reduce our brain’s productivity, and can lead to depression. On the other hand, the brain chemicals produced by positive thoughts

… create a sense of well-being which helps your brain function at peak capacity (2011, p. 70).

Dr Masaru Emoto, a visionary and internationally renowned researcher from Japan, began to study the impact of altering water by various factors of vibration and consciousness. He studied water that had been altered by music – healing music, classical music, heavy metal music – and so forth. The crystalline pictures revealed how water responds to these influences … into complex arrangements of crystalline beauty. This begins to reveal that water is alive – it is conscious and responds to applied force by a rearrangement of its inner crystalline properties. Inspired by these revelations, he decided to study the impact of human consciousness on water and its crystalline order. Through repeatable experiments Dr. Emoto demonstrated that human thoughts and emotions can alter the molecular structure of water. Now, for the first time, there is physical evidence that the power of our thoughts can change the world within and around us.

He found that water that had been consciously altered by the simple imprinting of a word of intent would change. Water that was imprinted by love, gratitude, and appreciation, responded by the development of complex beautifully formed crystals, and water that was mistreated by negative intentions and words became disordered and lost it’s magnificent patterning. In fact, it often took on grotesque forms of resonance. After much experimentation, Dr. Emoto discovered that the most powerful combination of thoughts in terms of capacity to transform was that of “Love and Gratitude.” These experiments show that gratitude is one of humanity’s most powerful emotions. So counting our blessings on a regular basis can improve our moods and overall level of happiness and health, and expressing that appreciation to others has a magnified and powerful effect.

Challenges to Feeling Grateful

Although we may acknowledge gratitude’s benefits, it can still feel difficult to feel grateful when we are going through a difficult time. That’s why it makes so much sense to practice gratitude, in good times and bad. It may be human nature to notice all that is wrong or all that we lack, but if we give ourselves the chance on a regular basis to notice all of lives gifts and blessings, we can increase our sense of well-being, and create hope and optimism for the future—no matter what is going on. Try to see the positive aspects associated with difficult experiences. Can you appreciate them as an opportunity to learn and grow? This simple change in perception can transform a challenge into something positive.

How do we increase our feelings of gratitude even if life presents great adversity? We work our gratitude muscle! Little by little. It will begin to rewire our brain and build our positive re-set button so we are better able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and more and more able to find solutions and shift our perspective to one that is more empowering.

Exercises and Tools to make the Shift into Gratitude

Here are simple yet powerful strategies to bring the practice of gratitude into your life:

Keep a gratitude journal. At the end of each day (or week), write down 3-5 things that you feel good about; things that made you smile, things that left you feeling humbled, appreciative or thankful. Begin to view the world from that of an artist, poet or writer. Notice the small things that create such beauty and wonder; your baby’s smile, a beautiful view, or your best friend’s laughter. Relish the feeling you get when remembering and journaling about these. Count your blessings often, this has a cumulative effect and multiplies the feel good factor! For best results, this exercise is best done daily or weekly for one month and then kept up as a regular routine in building your gratitude muscle.

• Have a morning gratitude review. Make it a daily ritual to take a few minutes in the morning to think of and appreciate those people you love and the things your grateful for.
• Express your gratitude. Take the time to share your feelings. Not the simple, polite thank you, but the heartfelt emotions. Tell your friend how her support and sense of humor helps you get through tough times, and how much it means to you. Don’t take your loved ones for granted. Let them know how much you love them and why.
• Letters of Gratitude. Write gratitude letters to significant individuals in your life. People who have impacted you in a positive ways. Share your gratitude letters with the recipients. Research has shown this foster’s not only increased feelings of joy, but also a closer meaning and pleasure derived from the relationship.
• Pay it forward – Service to others is a way to ‘action gratitude’ in your life by giving back. It’s immensely rewarding for both the giver and the receiver.
• Look for what is right about a situation, not what’s wrong. Sure you’re frustrated by rush hour traffic, but thankfully you have an understanding boss. Service at the restaurant is poor, but you are lucky to afford an evening out surrounded by good friends.
• Avoid criticizing, show gratitude . This simple strategy can literally transform an important relationship like a marriage. If you constantly criticize your spouse, your marriage will slowly deteriorate. Yes, it’s important to be able to talk out problems, but no one likes to be criticized all the time. So, when you find yourself feeling the urge to criticize, stop. Now take a moment to think about all the reasons you are truly grateful for your spouse. What would you miss if they were not a part of your life?
• Practice gratitude with your family and friends. Encourage each family member to talk about one thing that happened during day that they feel grateful for. When you hear a friend moaning and complaining, challenge him or her to find the hidden opportunity or silver lining to the situation.
• Enjoy the benefits. The more you focus on gratitude the more you will appreciate your life and the happier you will be. An appreciative attitude will also make you more aware of your blessings and prevent you from taking them for granted. Remember, the happiest people are NOT the ones who have the best of everything, they the ones who appreciate all that they do have.Focus on what you HAVE that’s good and right and working in your life, not what you don’t have. This practice will re-set your thinking patterns and you will start to see more and more things to be grateful for and experience a greater sense of well being.

Gratitude can be a powerful antidote to the challenges of life and can support us in achieving better health, relationships and peace of mind. It is cumulative in its effect. This takes awareness, continual checking in and practice – just like learning any new skill. We practice the skill of being more grateful by intentionally choosing to feel grateful.

As we practice and feel gratitude from the heart it re-wires our brain and nervous system. Gratitude beneficially changes our brain chemistry; the ways that neurons fire, our hormones, and even our immune system. Gratitude allows us to cultivate a positive mindset by our mindful acknowledgement of the positive things in our lives. As we choose gratitude, the brain will seek positive patterns. We become more optimistic, more apt at dealing with challenges, and experience less stress and more peace. Bringing the practice of gratitude into our coaching sessions adds an indispensable and powerful tool to further support our clients in attaining their goals and achieving an optimum state of BEING.

Thank You for each new morning with the light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything, thy goodness sends – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Aubele, Wenck & Reynolds -Train your Brain to get Happy. 2011

Emmons R.A and McCullough, M.E. (2003) – Count your Blessings V’s Burdens

Saligman, Martin. 2002. Authentic Happiness. New York Free Press

Dr. Masaru Emoto -The Hidden Messages in Water. Beyond Words Publishing

Robert A. Emmons – Thanks! How the new science of Gratitude can make you Happier

Barbara Friedrickson – Positivity - Ground Breaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions. Crown Publishers U Tube : Science of Happiness

U Tube: Dr Joe Dispenze - What happens to the brain when you practice gratitude www.thechangeblog.com www.wakeup-world.com

Further Reading

Count Your Blessings: The Healing Power of gratitude and Love by John F Demartini. Hay House 2006

The Gratitude Factor – Enhancing your life through Grateful Living by Charles. M Sheldon PhD

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