A Brief History of Research on Gratitude

Social scientists have focused on gratitude since the 1930s (Baumgarten-Tramer, 1938; Bergler, 1945, 1950; Gouldner, 1960; Heider, 1958; Schwartz, 1967; Simmel, 1950). Though it has been considered fundamental to the maintenance of reciprocity obligations between people (Gouldner, 1960; Simmel, 1950) and evolutionarily adaptive for its promotion of altruistic behavior (Trivers, 1971), the bulk of empirical research occurred over the past dozen years because psychological research was long dominated by a focus on pathology rather than flourishing (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Two classic studies—showing that expressing and experiencing gratitude bring peace of mind, satisfying personal relationships, and well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; McCullough et al., 2002)—catalyzed the field, and since then a wealth of research on gratitude and its applications has emerged.

Conceptualizations of Gratitude as a Moral Affect

Gratitude is considered a moral affect because it results from and stimulates behavior that is motivated by a concern for other people's well-being (McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001). Unlike other moral emotions that operate when one falls short of important standards or obligations (i.e., guilt and shame) or when one is motivated to help another in need (i.e., sympathy and empathy), gratitude is distinctly operant when one is the recipient of prosocial behavior and serves to increase prosocial behavior between people.

McCullough et al. (2001) delineated three moral functions of gratitude in social life by examining the existing empirical research on gratitude and related concepts (i.e., thankfulness, appreciation). First, the emotion of gratitude serves as a moral barometer by indicating a change in one's social relationships; recipients regard benefactors as moral agents for having augmented their personal well-being and acknowledge the particular importance of relationships with them. Second, as a moral reinforcer, the expression of gratitude increases the chances that a benefactor will respond benevolently again in the future, just as the expression of ingratitude can anger benefactors and discourage them from acting benevolently again. Finally, gratitude serves as moral motive because its experience motivates recipients to then behave prosocially or inhibit destructive behavior toward a benefactor in return or toward others. However, the reciprocity motivation resulting from gratitude is distinct from those sparked by indebtedness and inequity in that it is a pleasant emotion linked to positive psychological states, much like contentment, pride, and hope. McCullough et al. (2001) found ample support in the literature for the first two functions, and subsequent experiments using behavioral measures of helping provided support for the moral motive function (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006; Tsang, 2006).

Review of Social Scientific Research on Gratitude

The empirical research falls into three major categories: (1) how gratitude is measured and conceptualized; (2) what kind of people tend to be grateful; and (3) how gratitude has been and can be applied to society. A growing body of research also cuts across these categories by focusing on the measurement of gratitude in youth, its benefits to development, and factors and interventions that promote gratitude development. Researchers wanting to develop practical applications of gratitude to improve human health and well-being would benefit from considering these areas of research.

It seems reasonable to conclude from the available empirical evidence that gratitude can indeed be regarded as a moral emotion. We experience gratitude when we acknowledge the gratuitous role sources of social support play in producing beneficial outcomes in our lives. Expressing gratitude to people who have been kind to us validates their efforts and reinforces such behavior in the future. And gratitude motivates us to extend kindness in response to those who have been kind to us but to others as well. Therefore, people who experience and express gratitude more tend to strengthen their existing relationships and form new supportive relationships. That is, the more they tune in to how others have helped them along, the more they will do the same in return; and the more frequently such exchanges occur, the more suited relationship networks become to maximizing the mutual benefits for those involved.

Gratitude as an Affective Trait: Measures and Correlates

Researchers have derived four different facets of emotional experiences that distinguish people with a more grateful disposition from those with a less grateful disposition. Compared to less grateful individuals, highly grateful individuals feel gratitude more intensely for a positive event, more frequently or more easily throughout the day; they have a wider span of benefits or life circumstances for which they are grateful at any given time (e.g., for their families, their jobs, friends, their health); and they experience gratitude with greater density for any given benefit (i.e., toward a more people).

Interventions to Promote Gratitude

In addition to cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, intervention studies also provide evidence that gratitude has a variety of benefits for adults and youth. This research has also uncovered different strategies that are effective for promoting gratitude.

Obstacles to Promoting Gratitude: Intervention Moderators

Any discussion of the benefits of gratitude would be incomplete without a consideration of factors that render gratitude difficult. Moderators must be examined to design effective gratitude interventions because some individuals may be more responsive than others. Different people experience different amounts of gratitude depending on the size of the gift they are accustomed to receiving and the amount of effort benefactors invest (Wood, Brown, & Maltby, 2011). Thus, cultural and attitudinal factors likely moderate gratitude's effects on well-being. Indeed, a cross-cultural study found gratitude interventions focusing on family and others to be more effective in collectivist samples, whereas those focusing on oneself were more effective with individualistic samples (Boehm, Lyubomirsky, & Sheldon, 2011). Thus, researchers can personalize interventions with a focus on the types of benefits recipients most value (e.g., focusing on benefits that affirm, increase, or maintain harmony in relationships for interdependent selves and focusing on benefits that affirm, increase, or maintain personal autonomy and achievement for independent selves).

Research is needed to better understand how the experience, expression, and consequences of gratitude differ across cultures. People may be grateful for different reasons or because of distinct determinants; ways of expressing gratitude to others may differ; and gratitude may differentially impact mental, physical, or relational outcomes across cultures. Understanding universal versus distinctive patterns in these areas would advance basic knowledge about gratitude in society.

Scholars suggest that a number of attitudes are incompatible with gratitude, including perceptions of victimhood (Seligman, 2002), inability to admit to one's shortcomings (Solomon, 2002), envy and resentment (Etchegoyen & Nemas, 2003), and an overemphasis on materialistic values (Kasser, 2002). Interventions to cultivate gratitude cannot ignore these obstacles to gratitude, for it may be necessary to confront these on their own terms prior to initiating a gratitude focus. We may learn that individuals with such characteristics benefit more strongly from gratitude interventions.

Some of these obstacles are likely to be deeply ingrained in personality. A major personality variable that is likely to thwart gratitude is narcissism (Watkins et al., 2003). People with narcissistic tendencies erroneously believe they are deserving of special rights and privileges without assuming reciprocal responsibilities. The sense of entitlement combined with insensitivity to the needs of others engenders interpersonal exploitation. They might be reluctant to express gratitude in response to benefactors whose generosity or kindness they summarily dismiss as little more than attempts to curry favor. Farwell and Wohlwend-Lloyd (1998) found that in the context of a laboratory-based interdependence game, narcissism was inversely related to the extent to which participants experienced liking and gratitude for their partners. In short, if one feels entitled to everything, then one is thankful for nothing.

Another possible moderator of gratitude on well-being is personal responsibility. Chow and Lowery (2010) found that individuals do not experience gratitude without the belief that they are responsible for their success, even when they acknowledge that they received help. Such knowledge can be useful in improving gratitude interventions, particularly those targeting younger populations. Indeed, longitudinal evidence shows that youth who developed lots of gratitude from ages 11–14 to ages 15–18 reported more self-respect, self-control, goals/plans for the future, and self-regulation, compared to youth who developed little gratitude during this period (Froh & Bono, 2014).

Research has examined moderators for gratitude interventions among youth. In one study, children and adolescents (ages 8 to 19) were randomly assigned to either a gratitude visit condition (writing a thank-you letter to a benefactor and then reading it to the individual in person) or a control condition (describing daily events). Students in the gratitude condition who were also low in positive affect reported more gratitude and positive affect at post-treatment and more positive affect at the 2-month follow-up than youths in the control condition (Froh, Kashdan, Ozimkowski, & Miller, 2009). Therefore, youth lower in positive affect seem to benefit more from gratitude interventions.

Creative Applications for Gratitude Interventions

Thus far, the research studies that we have reviewed were designed to examine the effects of gratitude on well-being. It is also possible to examine changes in gratitude as a result of interventions designed for other purposes, such as to promote mindfulness (Shapiro, Schwartz, & Santerre, 2002), relaxation (Khasky & Smith, 1999), or forgiveness (Witvliet, Ludwig, & Bauer, 2002). Gratitude appears to be facilitated by meditation practice referred to as intentional systematic mindfulness (Shapiro et al., 2002). In another research program, progressive muscle relaxation has been shown to produce a number of positive emotional benefits, including among them increased feelings of love and thankfulness (Khasky & Smith, 1999). Lastly, Witvliet et al. (2002) found that a forgiveness intervention, such as imagining oneself being forgiven by someone, resulted in increased feelings of gratitude. These studies demonstrate that a number of innovative psychological interventions have the capacity to engender states of gratitude and its attendant benefits, though they were not designed explicitly for this purpose.

One particular type of psychotherapy originating in Japan, known as Naikan therapy, is based in Buddhist philosophy and mobilizes techniques of isolation and meditation to expand clients' awareness of their moral relationships with significant others in their lives. Currently, there are about 40 Naikan centers in Japan, as well as centers in Austria, Germany, and the United States (Krech, 2002). The overall aim of Naikan therapy is to have clients achieve interpersonal balance by realizing a deep sense of connection with the significant others in their lives and to experience a strong sense of gratitude toward people who have provided them with benefits (Hedstrom, 1994; Reynolds, 1983). It is notable that this form of therapy, based so strongly in gratitude, has been used to treat many disorders too—including anorexia nervosa (Morishita, 2000), alcoholism (Suwaki, 1985), neuroses, and personality disorders (Sakuta, Shiratsuchi, Kimura, & Abe, 1997)—and it has been applied to the rehabilitation of prisoners and counseling in school and business settings (Krech, 2002).

Using Gratitude to Improve Coping and Resiliency

Gratitude can be therapeutically useful for populations without mental disorders but who may be experiencing stress, such as coping with lifelong disease or traumatic events. For example, Algoe and Stanton (2011) found that the experience and expression of gratitude may help patients with metastatic breast cancer find improved quality of life by tapping into sources of social support. Another study found that gratitude was a powerful emotion for coping with the tragic events of September 11, 2001 (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003). Such findings are consistent with the view that positive emotions broaden the scope of individuals' thoughts and generate upward spirals of improved coping and functioning (Fredrickson, 2001).

McAdams and Bauer's (2004) analyses of redemption sequences revealed that even painful experiences could become something for which people are ultimately grateful. Therefore, gratitude will likely play a valuable role in improving peoples' lives as such therapeutic applications are developed.

There is evidence that gratitude may play a significant role in coping and resiliency among youth, too. A study of newspaper accounts about what children were thankful for before and after the September 11 event found that their thankfulness for basic human needs, such as family, friends, and teachers, increased (A. K. Gordon, Musher-Eizenman, Holub, & Dalrymple, 2004). This suggests gratitude helps buffer children from adverse events as it does with adults.

Beyond solidifying social resources, gratitude may lend humans strength for other reasons. Researchers have identified sustained patterns of physiological coherence that operate during feelings of appreciation, suggesting mechanisms for such positive psychosocial outcomes. By physiological coherence they refer to the degree of order, stability, and efficiency generated by the body's oscillatory systems—such as heart rhythms, respiratory rhythms, blood pressure oscillations, low frequency brain rhythms, craniosacral rhythms, electrical skin potentials, and rhythms in the digestive system (McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, & Bradley, 2009). The more people experience sincere feelings of appreciation, the more this coherence emerges, reinforcing coherent patterns in the neural architecture as a familiar reference for the brain. Given such findings, McCraty and Childre (2004) developed techniques for focusing attention to the area around the heart (the subjective site of positive emotions) and simultaneously engaging in intentional self-inductions of positive emotional states, such as appreciation. Such techniques may be useful tools for interventions seeking to increase gratitude in individuals; that these interventions employ techniques similar to other mind–body interventions may make them particularly useful for fostering gratitude as an attitude or mind-set.

How Is Gratitude Related to the Good Life?

When considering how gratitude is related to the good life, it is useful to bear in mind the various populations that have been shown to benefit from gratitude.

Guidelines for the Empirical Study of Gratitude and Gratitude Interventions

To evaluate gratitude interventions and their effectiveness, researchers should adhere to several guidelines. Most importantly, if researchers wish to foster well-being by increasing people's gratitude, it is important to make sure that the intervention is actually successful in fostering gratitude. The degree of gratitude that participants experience can be measured in terms intensity, frequency, span, and density (McCullough et al., 2002). Including the GQ-6 (McCullough et al., 2002) or the GRAT (Watkins et al., 2003) in the battery of dependent variables will assist to this end. Gratitude as a component of daily emotional and mood experience can also help evaluate intervention effects in everyday life (see McCullough, Tsang, & Emmons, 2004).

Second, intervention methods matter. Diary techniques have proved useful for inducing individuals to focus on and experience gratitude (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Having participants write about positive events and people in their lives, or even writing letters to people to whom they feel grateful, may also be useful to this end (Watkins et al., 2003). Behavioral expressions of thanks are especially potent in changing people's subjective well-being. Finally, to achieve sustainable intervention effects, researchers should ensure that methods meaningfully engage participants by having them know about, endorse, and commit to the intervention (Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2011).

Third, researchers are advised to measure dependent variables that reflect the different ways gratitude might influence participants and their relationships with others (McCullough et al., 2002). To assess individual outcomes, researchers should measure dependent variables corresponding to the different ways gratitude has been shown to benefit children, adolescents, and adults in terms of well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, anxiety, depression, satisfaction with life, hope, etc.), prosociality (i.e., how much others help them and they help others), and their health and development. Research has just started to uncover how individuals benefit from increased gratitude. Perhaps different relationships benefit in different ways or degrees? Researchers may further assess the effects of gratitude on health and well-being by examining how gratitude buffers targets from various life stressors and bestows improved coping and decision making. The use of daily diary methods may be the best way to assess such individual, relational, and health outcomes.

Future Directions for Research on Gratitude and Gratitude Interventions

An important setting for adult gratitude applications is the workplace. Emmons (2003) proposed several ways gratitude can benefit organizations. Most directly, as a cognitive strategy, gratitude can improve individual well-being and lower toxic emotions in the workplace, such as resentment and envy. Moods are important determiners of efficiency, productivity, success, and employee loyalty. Evidence demonstrates that employee happiness and well-being are positively linked to performance, commitment, and morale, and negatively linked to absenteeism, burnout, and turnover (e.g., Wright & Staw, 1999). As society increasingly relies on teamwork and the harnessing of individuals' diverse strengths to achieve group and organizational goals, gratitude is an easy way to buffer individuals from stress and facilitate the mutual achievements of individuals, groups, and organizations (Emmons, 2003).

Although gratitude has been linked to positive youth development and well-being, applications in the school setting are lacking. Researchers should further investigate this population and gratitude's potential benefits for schools and other educational settings. Why wait until adulthood to begin to reap the benefits of grateful living? Gratitude leads to many positive outcomes of central importance in youth development (e.g., well-being, prosocial relationships, improved motivation, satisfaction with school, and a focus on priorities and planning for the future). Therefore, applying gratitude in schools promises to advance student learning and engagement with school. Gratitude can easily complement social emotional learning programs and may enhance bullying and character education programs, helping to improve school climate in general. Promoting gratitude early in development will undoubtedly produce many benefits for individuals and society.

Conclusion

Gratitude shows surprisingly few downsides. That people typically consider gratitude a virtue and not simply a pleasure also points to the fact that it does not always come naturally or easily. Gratitude must, and can, be cultivated. And by cultivating this virtue, people not only get to experience its pleasure but all of its other attendant benefits, too, for free. As this chapter demonstrates, gratitude can produce many advantages for society.

Through gratitude individuals find coherence in life. They learn to elevate others and make a difference in the world. Like the moral memory of humankind (Simmel, 1950), gratitude reflects the story of the best that individuals and societies could be. We hope this chapter helps readers appreciate how gratitude can be used to improve ourselves and to inch us toward a better world.

Summary Points

• Gratitude serves as three moral functions: a moral barometer, a moral reinforcer, and a moral motive. Individuals with grateful personalities feel gratitude more intensely, more frequently, more densely (toward more people), and for a wider span of benefits.
• To test for effectiveness of interventions, researchers should consider if gratitude is increased in terms of intensity, frequency, density, and span.
• To be effective, intervention methods (i.e., diary of gratitude, behavioral expressions of thanks) should meaningfully engage participants by having them know about, endorse, and commit to the intervention.
• Researchers should measure dependent variables corresponding to the different ways gratitude has been shown to benefit children, adolescents, and adults in terms of well-being, prosociality, and their health and development.
• Cultural and attitudinal factors (e.g., materialism, resentment) likely moderate gratitude's effects on well-being. Research is needed to better understand how the experience, expression, and consequences of gratitude differ across cultures.
• Researchers can personalize interventions with a focus on the types of benefits recipients most value (e.g., focusing on benefits that affirm, increase, or maintain harmony in relationships for interdependent selves).
• Personality characteristics such as narcissism, low personal responsibility, and low positive affect (in youth populations) may prevent gratitude. Such knowledge can be useful in improving gratitude interventions in the future.
• A number of innovative psychological interventions have the capacity to engender states of gratitude and its attendant benefits, though they were not designed explicitly for this purpose (e.g., meditation practice).
• Gratitude interventions can be used in therapeutic settings. It is recommended that experiments use clinical samples to examine if gratitude interventions could treat mental disorders better than other existing therapies. Gratitude can also benefit populations who do not have mental disorders but suffer from severe stress/adversity, disease, or trauma.
• Important settings for future applications with adults include the workplace because gratitude can facilitate the mutual achievements of individuals, groups, and organizations. Similarly, researchers should investigate if gratitude applications with children have such effects on schools and other educational settings.

References

1. Algoe, S. B. (2012). Find, remind, and bind: The functions of gratitude in everyday relationships. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6, 455–469.
2. Algoe, S. B., Gable, S. L., & Maisel, N. (2010). It's the little things: Everyday gratitude as a booster shot for romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 17, 217–233.
3. Algoe, S. B., Haidt, J., & Gable, S. L. (2008). Beyond reciprocity: Gratitude and relationships in everyday life. Emotion, 8, 425–429.
4. Algoe, S. B., & Stanton, A. L. (2011). Gratitude when it is needed most: Social functions of gratitude in women with metastatic breast cancer. Emotion, 12, 163–168. doi:10.1037/a0024024
5. Bartlett, M. Y., Condon, P., Cruz, J., Baumann, J., & DeSteno, D. (2012). Gratitude: Prompting behaviors that build relationships. Cognition and Emotion, 26, 2–13.
6. Bartlett, M. Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: Helping when it costs you. Psychological Science, 17, 319–325.
7. Baumgarten-Tramer, F. F. (1938). “Gratefulness” in children and young people. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 53, 5353–5366.
8. Bennett, L., Ross, M. W., & Sunderland, R. (1996). The relationship between recognition, rewards, and burnout in AIDS caregiving. AIDS Care, 8, 145–153.
9. Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., Hamilton, S. F., & Semsa, A., Jr. (2006). Positive youth development: Theory, research, and applications. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.-in-Chief) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 894–941). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0116
10. Bergler, E. (1945). Psychopathology of ingratitude. Diseases of the Nervous System, 6, 6226–6229.
11. Bergler, E. (1950). Debts of gratitude paid in “guilt denomination.” Journal of Clinical Psychopathology, 11, 57–62.
12. Bernstein, D. M., & Simmons, R. G. (1974). The adolescent kidney donor: The right to give. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 1338–1343.
13. Boehm, J. K., Lyubomirsky, S., & Sheldon, K. M. (2011). A longitudinal experimental study comparing the effectiveness of happiness-enhancing strategies in Anglo Americans and Asian Americans. Cognition and Emotion, 25(7), 1263–1272. doi:10.1080/02699931.2010.541227
14. Bono, G., Froh, J. J., & Emmons, R. A. (2012, August). Searching for the developmental role of gratitude: A 4-year longitudinal analysis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Orlando, FL.
15. Bono, G., Froh, J. J., Emmons, R. A., & Card, N. A. (2013, April). The benefits of gratitude to adolescent development: Longitudinal models of gratitude, wellbeing and prosocial behavior. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
16. Bono, G., & McCullough, M. E. (2006). Positive responses to benefit and harm: Bringing forgiveness and gratitude into cognitive psychotherapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 20(2), 147–158. doi:10.1891/jcop.20.2.147
17. Chaplin, L., Rindfleisch, A., John, D. R., & Froh, J. J. (2013). Reducing materialism in adolescents. Manuscript submitted for publication.
18. Childre, D., & Cryer, B. (2000). From chaos to coherence: The power to change performance. Boulder Creek, CA: Planetary.
19. Chow, R. M., & Lowery, B. S. (2010). Thanks, but no thanks: The role of personal responsibility in the experience of gratitude. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 487–493.
20. Clark, H. B., Northrop, J. T., & Barkshire, C. T. (1988). The effects of contingent thank-you notes on case managers' visiting residential clients. Education and Treatment of Children, 11, 45–51.
21. DeWall, C. N., Lambert, N. M., Pond, R. S., Kashdan, T. B., & Fincham, F. D. (2012). A grateful heart is a nonviolent heart: Cross-sectional, longitudinal, experience sampling, and experimental evidence. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 232–240.
22. Duckworth, A. L., Steen, T. A., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Positive psychology in clinical practice. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1(1), 629–651.
23. Dunn, J. R., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2005). Feeling and believing: The influence of emotion on trust. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(5), 736–748.
24. Emmons, R. A. (2003). Acts of gratitude in organizations. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship (pp. 81–93). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
25. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective wellbeing in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377–389.
26. Etchegoyen, R. H., & Nemas, C. R. (2003). Salieri's dilemma: A counterpoint between envy and appreciation. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 84, 45–58.
27. Farwell, L., & Wohlwend-Lloyd, R. (1998). Narcissistic processes: Optimistic expectations, favorable self-evaluations, and self-enhancing attributions. Journal of Personality, 66(1), 65–83.
28. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226.
29. Fredrickson, B. L., Tugade, M. M., Waugh, C. E., & Larkin, G. R. (2003). What good are positive emotions in crises? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 84, 365–376.
30. Froh, J. J., & Bono, G. (2014). Making grateful kids: The science of building character. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press.
31. Froh, J. J., Bono, G., & Emmons, R. A. (2010). Being grateful is beyond good manners: Gratitude and motivation to contribute to society among early adolescents. Motivation & Emotion, 34, 144–157.
32. Froh, J. J., Bono, G., Fan, J., Emmons, R. A., Henderson, K., Harris, C.,…Wood, A. (2014). Nice thinking! An educational intervention that teaches children how to think gratefully [Special Issue: Theoretical Frameworks in School Psychology Intervention Research: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Future Directions]. School Psychology Review, 43, 132–152.
33. Froh, J. J., Emmons, R. A., Card, N. A., Bono, G., & Wilson, J. (2011). Gratitude and the reduced costs of materialism in adolescents. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 289–302.
34. Froh, J. J., Fan, J., Emmons, R. A., Bono, G., Huebner, E. S., & Watkins, P. (2011). Measuring gratitude in youth: Assessing the psychometric properties of adult gratitude scales in children and adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 23, 311–324.
35. Froh, J. J., Kashdan, T. B., Ozimkowski, K. M., & Miller, N. (2009). Who benefits the most from a gratitude intervention in children and adolescents? Examining positive affect as a moderator. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 408–422.
36. Froh, J. J., Sefick, W. J., & Emmons, R. A. (2008). Counting blessings in early adolescents: An experimental study of gratitude and subjective wellbeing. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 213–233.
37. Geraghty, A. W. A., Wood, A. M., & Hyland, M. E. (2010a). Attrition from self-directed interventions: Investigating the relationship between psychological predictors, technique and dropout from a body image intervention. Social Science & Medicine, 71, 30–37.
38. Geraghty, A. W. A., Wood, A. M., & Hyland, M. E. (2010b). Dissociating the facets of hope: Agency and pathways predict dropout from unguided self-help therapy in opposite directions. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(1), 155–158. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2009.12.003
39. Gordon, A. K., Musher-Eizenman, D. R., Holub, S. C., & Dalrymple, J. (2004). What are children thankful for? An archival analysis of gratitude before and after the attacks of September 11. Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 541–553. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2004.08.004
40. Gordon, C. L., Arnett, R. A. M., & Smith, R. E. (2011). Have you thanked your spouse today? Felt and expressed gratitude among married couples. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 339–343.
41. Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161–178.
42. Grant, A. M., & Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way. Explaining why gratitude expression motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 946–955.
43. Hedstrom, L. J. (1994). Morita and Naikan therapies: American applications. Psychotherapy, 31, 154–160.
44. Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York, NY: Wiley.
45. Joel, S., Gordon, A. M., Impett, E. A., MacDonald, G., & Keltner, D. (2013). The things you do for me: Perceptions of a romantic partner's investments promote gratitude and commitment. Personality and Social Psychology, 39(10), 1333–1345.
46. John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory—Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research.
47. Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
48. Kendler, K. S., Liu, X., Gardner, C. O., McCullough, M. E., Larson, D., & Prescott, C. A. (2003). Dimensions of religiosity and their relationship to lifetime psychiatric and substance use disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 496–503.
49. Khasky, A. D., & Smith, J. C. (1999). Stress, relaxation states and creativity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88, 409–416.
50. Krech, G. (2002). Naikan: Gratitude, grace and the Japanese art of self-reflection. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
51. Lambert, N. M., & Fincham, F. D. (2011). Expressing gratitude to a partner leads to more relationship maintenance behavior. Emotion, 11, 52–60.
52. Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., & Stillman, T. F. (2012). Gratitude and depressive symptoms: The role of positive reframing and positive emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 26, 602–614.
53. Lambert, N. M., Gwinn, A. M., Baumeister, R. F., Fincham, F. D., Gable, S. L., Strachman, A., & Washburn, I. J. (2013). A boost of positive affect: The perks of sharing positive experiences and grateful experiences. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30, 24–43.
54. Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestsdottir, S.,…Eye, A. (2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and community contributions of fifth-grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of positive youth development. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 17–71. doi:10.1177/0272431604272461
55. Lyubomirsky, S., Dickerhoof, R., Boehm, J. K., & Sheldon, K. M. (2011). Becoming happier takes both a will and a proper way: An experimental longitudinal intervention to boost well-being. Emotion, 11(2), 391–402. doi: 10.1037/a0022575
56. Maheux, B., Legault, C., & Lambert, J. (1989). Increasing response rates in physicians' mail surveys: An experimental study. American Journal of Public Health, 79, 638–639.
57. McAdams, D. P., & Bauer, J. J. (2004). Gratitude in modern life: Its manifestations and development. In R. A. Emmons and M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
58. McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Bradley, R. T. (2009). The coherent heart: Heart–brain interactions, psychophysiological coherence, and the emergence of system-wide order. Integral Review, 5(2), 10–114.
59. McCraty, R., & Childre, D. (2004). The grateful heart: The psychophysiology of appreciation. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 230–255). New York: Oxford University Press.
60. McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112–127.
61. McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 249–266. doi:10.1037/0033-909.127.2.249
62. McCullough, M. E., Tsang, J., & Emmons, R. A. (2004). Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain: Links of grateful moods with individual differences and daily emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 295–309.
63. Morishita, S. (2000). Treatment of anorexia nervosa with Naikan therapy. International Medical Journal, 7, 151.
64. Paulhus, D. L. (1998). Interpersonal and intrapsychic adaptiveness of trait self-enhancement: A mixed blessing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1197–1208.
65. Reynolds, D. K. (1983). Naikan psychotherapy: Meditation for self-development. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
66. Rind, B., & Bordia, P. (1995). Effect of server's “thank you” and personalization on restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 745–751.
67. Sakuta, T., Shiratsuchi, T., Kimura, Y., & Abe, Y. (1997). Psychotherapies originated in Japan. International Medical Journal, 4, 229–230.
68. Schwartz, B. (1967). The social psychology of the gift. American Journal of Sociology, 73, 1–11.
69. Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Free Press.
70. Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5
71. Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid, T., & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 61, 774–788.
72. Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410.
73. Sergeant, S., & Mongrain, M. (2011). Are positive psychology exercises helpful for people with depressive personality styles? Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(4), 260–272. doi:10.1080/17439760.2011.577089
74. Shapiro, S. L., Schwartz, G. E. R., & Santerre, C. (2002). Meditation and positive psychology. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 632–645). London, England: Oxford University Press.
75. Simmel, G. (1950). The sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
76. Solomon, R. C. (2002). Spirituality for the skeptic. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
77. Suwaki, H. (1985). International review series: Alcohol and alcohol problems research: II. Japan. British Journal of Addiction, 80, 127–132.
78. Thomas, M., & Watkins, P. (2003, April). Measuring the grateful trait: Development of the revised GRAT. Poster session presented at the Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, Vancouver, BC.
79. Trivers, R L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46, 35–57.
80. Tsang, J. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behaviour: An experimental test of gratitude. Cognition and Emotion, 20, 138–148.
81. Watkins, P. C., Woodward, K., Stone, T., & Kolts, R. L. (2003). Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude, and relationships with subjective wellbeing. Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 431–451.
82. Witvliet, C. V., Ludwig, T. E., & Bauer, D. J. (2002). Please forgive me: Transgressors' emotions and physiology during imagery of seeking forgiveness and victim responses. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 21, 219–233.
83. Wood, A. M., Brown, G. D. A., & Maltby, J. (2011). Thanks, but I'm used to better: A relative rank model of gratitude. Emotion, 11, 175–180.
84. Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. (2010). Gratitude and wellbeing: A review and theoretical integration [Special Issue]. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 890–905.
85. Wright, T. A., & Staw, B. M. (1999). Affect and favorable work outcomes: Two longitudinal tests of the happy-productive worker thesis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 1–23.
86. Young, M. E., & Hutchinson, T. S. (2012). The rediscovery of gratitude: Implications for counseling practice. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, 51, 99–113.