The Effects of Gratitude on Current Life Outlook
Catherine Fortel Gilbert
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Abstract
Gratitude is a topic that has received considerable attention in recent psychological
research. The effects of a brief induction of gratitude on a person’s perception of their
current life outlook were examined. 84 participants were pre-tested for gratitude
predisposition and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (gratitude listing and neutral
events listing). The gratitude participants were asked to list at least five things in their life
they were grateful for. The neutral group was instructed to enter at least five recent events
that had an impact on them. Moods for each group were measured both before and after
the task. Neither group exhibited any immediate subsequent benefits for life outlook.
Results suggest that gratitude may not be effective as a short-term practice.
The Effects of Gratitude on Current Life Outlook
In the recent years, Gratitude (a.k.a. feeling grateful, being thankful, or counting your
blessings) is a topic that has received considerable attention in psychological research.
There have been a number of studies suggesting that feelings of gratitude can improve
one’s overall physical and emotional well-being (Emmons & Stern, 2013) and can even
result in fewer depressive symptoms (Lambert, Fincham, & Stillman, 2012). Additional
studies show that practicing gratitude may also create positive relationship development
and personal growth within the particular person to whom they are expressing their
gratitude (Algoe, Fredrickson, & Gable, 2013), a concept which also applies to romantic
relationships (Gordon, Impett, Kogan, Oveis, & Keltner, 2012). Couples who regularly
express gratitude and appreciation towards one another are more likely to have increased
longevity and overall happiness in their partnerships. Because gratitude is considered a
universal, cross-cultural virtue, it has specifically been examined as a therapeutic practice
in mental health with more correlation to happiness than any other personality attribute
(Emmons & McCullough, 2003) . There is a general philosophy about gratitude that tells
us if we respond to life experiences with thankfulness and appreciation it will lead to a
sense of inner peace and a more favorable outlook on the world and what life has to offer.
Not only is it possible that a mindful application of gratitude could result in a more
positive outlook on life, research also shows that expressing gratitude can also cause an
increase prosocial behavior (Grant & Gino, 2010) which could greatly benefit our society
overall.
Gratitude is defined as an emotional quality or emotional state of being grateful or thankful
(Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006). The overall message about the nature of gratitude seems
to be that it is a human feature that creates a positive and reverberating effect on life
happiness and emotional disposition. I wanted to know if it was possible to induce a state
of gratitude in a subject and if being in that state would have a positive effect on their
current outlook on life. However, I also wanted to determine if feelings of guilt play a role
in gratitude and if so, to what extent. There appear to be various reliable and valid
measures already in place to conduct a gratitude analysis. (Watkins, Woodward, Stone, &
Kolts, 2003) designed a test to measure predisposition of gratitude in individuals and then
assessed the association between gratitude and its effect on positive well-being. Additional
measures of gratitude are currently in use (Lambert, Fincham, Stillman, & Dean, 2009) as
well as measures for emotional well-being, which include self-reports with standard
scoring procedures (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).
I hypothesized that a brief induction of gratitude would lead to a more positive state of the
subject’s current perception of their life outlook as opposed to just a focus on neutrality.
There do not appear to be any studies indicating if feelings of guilt contribute to gratitude,
although specific feelings of obligation and indebtedness have been mentioned as a
contributing factor (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). My intention was to measure if such
feelings do play a role and to what degree. I addressed this by examining the relationship
between gratitude and life appraisal by comparing two separate groups using a series of
tasks and surveys. It’s important to understand and assess that if there is a negative side to
gratitude, if it in any way inhibits or outweighs the benefits.
Although studies on gratitude as a therapeutic treatment are still ongoing, the research
continues as it gains momentum. The main purpose of this study was to contribute to that
research in the hopes that it will maximize the experiences in an individual’s positive
emotions in a lasting and meaningful way.
Method
Participants
The sample consisted of 84 participants (56 women, 28 men) who were family, friends or
acquaintances on the experimenter’s personal Facebook friends list. Individuals were
recruited through a series of Facebook status posts that sought out those who were
interested in participating in the online survey. Participants had to be at least 18 years old
and were informed this would be a two-part study. There were no additional demographic
requirements and participants did not receive any incentive for taking part in the study. Of
the 84, 37 were ultimately dropped from data analysis due to lack of participation, missing,
or incomplete data, leaving a total of 47 participants.
Materials
The Short Form Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT; M. Thomas & P.
Watkins, 2003) was administered to check for gratitude predisposition. The short-form
GRAT is comprised of 16 items and is rated on a nine point scale ranging from “I strongly
disagree” to “I strongly agree” with the statement. The primary independent variable in this
study was The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) and
was administered both before and after the experiment to measure the participant’s overall
outlook on their life both before and after the manipulation. The PANAS is a 20 item scale
consisting of a number of words that describe various feelings and emotions. The
immediate state version of the PANAS was used in this study (“Indicate to what extent you
feel that way right now at this moment”). In an effort to distract participants in both groups
from the primary intention of the study, other measures not relevant to the study were
added before and after the experimental treatment such as The Short Test Of Music
Preferences (STOMP, Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D., 2003), The Adult Hope Scale
(AHS, Snyder et al., 1991), and The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI-II,
Kashdan, T.B., Rose, P., & Fincham, F.D., 2004). To assess whether the manipulation
successfully induced feelings of gratitude, the GQ-6 Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6; M. E.
McCullough, R. A. Emmons, & J.-A. Tsang, 2002) was also administered directly after the
manipulation.
Procedure
For the preliminary part of the study, the 84 participants were pre-tested online for
gratitude predisposition using the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT). 4
participants were dropped from the data analysis due to missing or incomplete data. The
remaining 80 eligible participants were then randomly assigned to the groups using their
GRAT scores as a measure to ensure that both the control group and experimental group
were fairly distributed. Time between GRAT testing and the experiment was not greater
than two weeks.
The main study was also conducted online and consisted of 80 participants (54 women, 26
men). Participants in each group were contacted via Facebook messenger and asked to
complete the second part of the online study. Respondents were also encouraged to be in a
quiet environment where they could take the survey uninterrupted. Of the 80, 33 were
dropped due to lack of participation, missing, or incomplete data, which left a total of 47
participants.
After signing an online electronic consent form, participants (n=47) were administered the
various online surveys and either the gratitude intervention task (n=24) or the neutral task
(n=23). The treatment used for the independent variable was a writing assignment in which
the gratitude group participants were asked to think back over the past week and list at
least five things in their life that they are grateful or thankful for: “There are various things
in our lives that we might be grateful about. Think back over the past week and list at least
five things in your life that you are grateful or thankful for.” Examples of
gratitude-induced answers varied from “My mom is still around”, “My children are
happy”, “For a loving and forgiving God “, “That I always seem to have what I need”,
“Having a dishwasher”, and “Pain pills”. Following the gratitude intervention, individuals
were given a manipulation check in the form of the GQ-6 Gratitude Questionnaire.
Following the GQ-6, individuals were immediately given the PANAS to measure the
dependent variable.
Individuals in the control group received the following neutral task: “What were some of
the events or circumstances that affected you in the past week? Think back over the past
week and enter at least five events that had an impact on you.” Examples of
neutral-induced answers were “Aggressive drivers”, “An anniversary”, “Broke up with the
girlfriend”, “Went to church”, and “A friend from out-of-state visited”. Following the
